It Just Hits Us Unexpectedly; A Tribute to Stephen Okechukwu Keshi

I can't remember the exact time of the year but I know it was sometime, late in 2005 when I heard from my father that for the first time since 1994, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will not be making an appearance at the FIFA World Cup Finals.
Like every avid football fan, it was a bitter pill to swallow but in the midst of my disappointment and disillusionment, I got to know that a Nigerian had led the tiny West African Country of Togo to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in their history.
That was my very first introduction to the legend of Stephen Okechukwu Keshi.
So many years later, after Nigerian Football witnessed another footballing tragedy owing to the Super Eagles' failure to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations.
This time around, the handlers of the National Team decided it was time to let Keshi into the picture, and from there, the only way for Nigerian football was up.
The following year, Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations in grand style; Late 2013, we gave a good account of ourselves at the Confederations Cup; Earlier in 2014, making an appearance at the CHAN for home-based players in Africa, Nigeria went as far as winning the bronze medal at the competition, and the same year, we got to the Knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time, under a 'local' coach.
The Stephen Keshi era was by far the most successful era in Nigeria's footballing history.
The fact that the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Obasi, Victor Moses, Nnamdi Oduamadi, Brown Ideye, Emmanuel Emenike and a host of other key players in the Super Eagles owe their rise to the man popularly referred to as THE BIG BOSS.
I can't really say much about his footballing days because all I know, I either read or heard but the era I witnessed, I can't fail to point out.
Keshi was a great coach; his calm demeanor was examplary; he exhumed this confidence that was oft mistaken for arrogance.
Stephen Keshi was an inspiration and a symbol for what local coaches in Africa could achieve, given the slightest conducive atmosphere that the Foreign coaches were spoilt with.
Keshi equally showed us the hitherto unknown and unnoticed quality that was abundant in the Nigerian Professional Football League, as the livewire of the team that won the AFCON in 2013 constituted of home based players like Godfrey Oboabona, Sunday Mba , ET Al.
Well, Keshi for me, was consumed in his fight for respect and better working conditions for local coaches in the African continent, and this led to his eventual sack or resignation.
So, it was rather surprising and most devastating when I heard earlier this morning about the passing of Keshi, and on visiting the internet, I realized it was true.
I can't say much but to eulogize Keshi, not because in Africa, we attribute hitherto unpossessed qualities to the dead, but because really, Keshi was a legend of the Modern Nigerian game; he took Nigerian football to greater heights; he redefined the character of a coach not just to Nigerian coaches but to other African Coaches; he was simply THE BIG BOSS!
Nigerians are mourning; I also mourn the Modern day legend of Nigerian Football.
I mourn the man who gave me my most memorable moments as a modern day Nigerian Football Follower.
We will hardly see someone like you again!
Rest In Peace, THE BIG BOSS!
Rest In Peace , Mr Cool!
Rest In Peace, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi!

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