Keshi Rejects new contract

It has been confirmed that, former coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi has rejected the contract offered to him by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to continue as head coach of the Super Eagles. On Tuesday, members of the NFF unanimously agreed that “having finalized the fresh contract with Mr Stephen Keshi, for him to continue as head coach of Super Eagles, and having forwarded same to Mr Keshi, the Executive Committee expects the new contract to be signed by the NFF and Mr Keshi in a matter of days.

That contract has now been rejected by Keshi who is asking for a bigger salary than N10 million (about $62,000 USD) offered by the NFF.

 Keshi was previously paid N5 million (about$31,000 USD) before his contract ran out after the 2014 Fifa World Cup. Despite the 100% increase in remuneration, Keshi is still not convinced it is the right amount for him to accept if he would continue in the saddle as Nigeria trainer.

 According to Keshi's spokesman, Emma Addo, “Keshi is bigger than N10 million. He is not a N5 million or N10 million coach. A club in Angola is ready to offer him N18 million (about $111,000 USD) million a month,”

 Keshi is currently away on holidays but with Nigeria’s next competitive game, a 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda on September 6 less than a month away, Addo insisted that the ball is now in the court of the NFF. 

“It has to be a give-and-take arrangement, we would not sign any contract that does not take care of his interest. “I want to stress that he (Keshi) will not be intimidated or blackmailed into accepting the contract as proposed by the federation. “The federation has always been aware of the September 6th qualifying match; this is no excuse to rush our client into signing a contract that he (has) serious objections about certain parts. “We hope both sides will be able to reach common grounds on the issues that our client has reservations about,” he said.

 Keshi replaced Samson Siasia as Super Eagles coach in 2011 and led Nigeria to the Africa Nations Cup title in South Africa in 2013. He also led the Super Eagles to a place in the round of 16 at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.