What colour of tears does one shed at times of grief like these? A time that recorded the demise of a rare gem of profound innate attributes. I mean Stephen Okechukwu Chinedu Keshi OON aka Bobby Moore, Der Big Boss, the Illah, Oshimili-North Delta State born soccer icon.
Should it be purple or a cocktail, such as rainbow, or better still, the glittering diamond that has undergone various degrees of polishing to attain the status of a gem?
Keshi’s odyssey on earth was somewhat akin to the metamorphosis of the diamond as a raw drab object in its natural state, which by the various transformational processes presented it as an invaluable jewel.
From the rustic Azare town in Bauchi State of Nigeria where he was born on Tuesday January 23,1962 through St Finbarr’s College Lagos, African Continental Bank (ACB) also in Lagos, New Nigeria Bank FC Benin, Stella Fc Abidjan Cote D’ivoire, Anderletch of Belgium, a stint in France and finally the United States where he qualified as a soccer coach to managerial accomplishments is a confirmation of a metaphoric nexus to diamond.
In Stephen Keshi, was a rare chemistry of patriotism, doggedness and altruistic mien founded on spartan attributes, which catapulted him from humble beginning to dining with the royalty.
His patriotic disposition came to the fore at the Maroc’88 AFCON, as he shuttled between Morocco and Belgium to serve both Nigeria, his country of origin and Anderletch his club diligently. Nigeria got a silver at that tournament.
In 1984 the late Air Commodore Tony Ikhazobo led Nigeria Football Association banned Keshi alongside his New Nigeria Bank FC contemporaries for reporting late to national camp. This development brought out Keshi’s dogged and altruistic characteristics . In stead of crying over spilled milk, rather, he plunged into the unknown and berthed briefly at Stella Abidjan Fc, predatory to anchoring at Anderletch in Belgium, a move that opened the flood gate to Nigerian and African players to have a taste of the lucrative and more professionally inclined European leagues.
It would not be far-fetched to ascribe an intrinsic clairvoyant attribute to him, for on my first rendezvous with him whilst he plied his trade with the all conquering New Nigerian Bank FC of Benin, in 1982 and my humble self as a sports commentator on the defunct Radio Bendel, Benin-City, I asked him ” Why the choice of Bobby Moore as an alias? His response was” Bobby Moore as the captain of the English squad that won the 1966 World Cup was very patriotic, committed, focused and exuded exemplary leadership qualities which were hard to fault.”
Perhaps with an admixture of clairvoyance and inspiration, bordering on prophecy, he captained Nigeria to Continental victory at the 1994 AFCON championship in Tunisia. He also skippered Nigeria to her first ever World Cup tournament held in the United States of America. Keshi also wore Nigeria Jersey from 1981-1995 where he chalked 65 caps within the period in reference.
Keshi ‘s coaching resume was somewhat between the sublime and the incisive, which accorded tacit justification for the clamor for African gaffers to take charge of African national teams. Between 2004 and 2006, Keshi coached the Togolese national team and in fact gave the tiny West Africa country their first and only ticket to a soccer Mundial in the Germany 2006 stanza. Thereafter,he guided the Mali national team for two seasons (2008-2010),.
His sweet-bitter relationship with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) between 2011 and 2014 lent incontrovertible credence to the biblical injunction that “a prophet is without honour in his place “. Even after coaching the Nigerian national team (the Super Eagles) to victory at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa and losing the round of 16 encounter to France at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, he was despised and treated with disdain; a development that led to his resignation as the head coach of the Nigerian team.
But hardly could there be any Nigerian living or deceased who boasts Keshi’s resume, for, a chronicle of soccer legends at the national, continental or global level would be incomplete without a copious mention of Stephen Keshi, whose exploits on or off-field ranked him amongst the platinum category, because his mile stones were plethora.
During his visit to Asaba in November 2015, my curiosity dwelt on the magic formula he applied in dismissing the star studied Ivorien squad at the 2013 AFCON in South Africa.
He explained “Bros Nkem, I give my best when challenged or better still written off. Do you know that the NFF had closed our hotel bills prior to that match, contacted an airline to confirm our return journey to Nigeria. In deed, I can relax now as I no longer fret over mundane issues concerning the NFF. The lion doesn’t bother itself with what the sheep thinks about it(the lion). I’ve played my part, let my adversaries play theirs”.
Stephen Keshi, courtesy his accomplishments , unarguably belonged to a special genre as he was one of two people along with Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary to have won the Africa Cup of Nations Championship as both a player and a coach.
One irrepressible coefficient in the matrix of Keshi’s sojourn was that his life seemed to have found inexplicable truism in the Shakespearean timeless submission that “”there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries…… “.
As a player and as a coach, he latched on to the full tide even in the face of palpable adversity, but was able to find his oasis in that desert of adversity that brought enormous fortune to Nigeria, Africa and indeed, mankind which stood him out as a rare gem that shone for all to appreciate even in death.
So, since Keshi was a rare gem, discretion demands that one should shed tears according to the lyrics of an anonymous musician that ” there is a diamond in every tear drop shed for an esteemed pal”. Rest in peace Bobby Moore, Skippo, Der Big Boss and Ogbuenyi of Illah Kingdom.
Written by Nkem Osu.
