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| Shaibu Amodu |
The Technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF say they have recommended the return of Stephen Keshi as Super Eagles coach, just because Shaibu Amodu pleaded on his behalf.
On Thursday, the NFF, in a press release from its chief media officer, Ademola Olajire said, Shaibu Amodu, hired two weeks ago to take the Eagles through the AFCON qualifiers against Congo and South Africa had written a letter asking Keshi to return since there was little or no time for him to work on the team.
That process appeared complete on Friday after the NFF Technical Committee accepted the plea for his reconsideration.
Chairman of the NFF Technical Committee, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, said his committee has accepted the plea and forwarded same to the NFF President.
“We have deliberated on Coach Amodu’s letter, and after speaking to my committee members, we decided to accept it and informed the NFF President of our approval.”
On his part, NFF President Amaju Pinnick simply said he had no objection to the proposal.
“I have never had anything against Keshi as a person. Amodu is someone we all respect and since that is his opinion and the Technical Committee has approved, so be it.
“I have always said that the work of the committees will not be interfered with. We will give the committees the independence to do their work for optimum results. I am also assuring Nigerians at home and abroad that the NFF will give Keshi all the necessary support to successfully prosecute the two very crucial final matches of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.”
Amodu was announced to take over the senior squad in the early hours of October 16, hours after the team’s 3-1 over Sudan in Abuja only took it to third place in the Group A table of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.
However, in a letter dated 27th October, 2014 and addressed to NFF President Amaju Pinnick through the Chairman of NFF Technical Committee, the 56 –year old tactician pleaded that Keshi be reconsidered for the two matches as the time –frame was too short to tinker with the fabric of the squad or start to build a new one altogether.
Reports in the media on Thursday, however claim that Keshi return was as a result of a presidential order form Nigeria’s seat of power and the letter from Shaibu Amodu was just a smokescreen.