Nigeria: Pinnick - NFF Not Dribbling Keshi
President of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick has called a lie on insinuations that the Federation is deceiving out of contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi with a new contract that would never be signed.
"I am shocked at these insinuations because the NFF Executive Committee gave the go-ahead for a new contract with Keshi at its meeting in Uyo last month, and Keshi and his lawyers have looked at the contract agreement and are satisfied with every word in the final draft.
"As a Federation, we have gone ahead to arrange some refresher programmes for Keshi, at nobody's prodding, and which are meant to enhance Keshi's knowledge and improve the man's capacity as a world-class strategist. We would not be doing that if we are not ready to work with him. No one is forcing Keshi on us. We have sat down with him and he has agreed to all terms that we put down and he is ready to work to lift the Super Eagles back to glorious days."
There have been dark innuendos from some quarters following the postponement of the signing of the fresh contract, but Pinnick, who is on a private visit to London, said on Sunday that the contract would definitely be signed early this week.
"There were a few ends to tighten and Keshi himself understands perfectly and is comfortable with the arrangements to have the contract sealed early this week. We are not dribbling him. He won the Africa Cup of Nations with the team and led Nigeria to the Round of 16 at the World Cup in his first term. It is the belief of the NFF that Keshi can still perform at the highest level."
The NFF supremo called on Nigerian ball fans and Nigerians in general to have faith in the NFF administration that he leads, saying positive results will certainly continue to flow even as the team concentrates on building capacity of various workers in the game and engineering a sustainable football culture in the land.