Coach Stephen Keshi was sacked to protect him from angry Nigerian fans who almost lynched him during Wednesday’s 2015 AFCON qualifier with Sudan, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick has revealed.
The NFF boss also revealed that he and other NFF Executive Committee members witnessed the chaos as the enraged fans threw stones and water bottles at Keshi, demanding him to be sacked in other to keep alive Nigeria's hopes of qualifying for next year's Championship which holds in Morocco.
Loud chants of “sack Keshi”, “Keshi must go”, “give us his head” and “we don’t want Keshi again” filled the atmosphere as the angry fans voiced in one accord to send their message across to NFF who swiftly acted by wielding the axe on Keshi.
It was learnt that when Pinnick yesterday paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Sports, Dr. Tamuno Danagogo, he expressed his shock at how the Coach who previously won the AFCON tournament in South Africa was treated by the fans.
He also explained that he considered Keshi's safety more important than anything else which prompted the sack adding that it was the first time in recent years that such abuses and stones were aimed at a Nigerian coach by fans, whether angry or not.
“It was too much to bear. The fans were really coming for him and it was going to be a security risk for us as people had ran out of patience and were prepared to break the law to achieve their aim. Keshi’s personal safety was paramount in our decision to relieve him of his duties”, the NFF boss said.
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