By Mark Baber
July 27 – Former Nigerian national team coach, Stephen Keshi, who was sacked by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) after his name came up in a list of applicants for the vacant Ivory Coast coaching job, is suing the NFF for more than $4 million in compensation, according to local reports.
According to AfricanFootball, Keshi’s lawyers are taking the federation to court for “wrongful dismissal and defamation” with the current occupants of the Glass House having received a legal letter on Friday.
Keshi, was fired as coach on July 5 after a disciplinary committee looked into the facts behind his alleged application for the Ivory Coast job – with Keshi denying he had any role in making the application.
The news of Keshi planning to sue for termination of his contract and for the maligning of his character during that process, is hardly surprising given the obvious unease of the NFF regime with their lack of control over someone with a potentially powerful and independent role in football affairs.
Keshi led Nigeria to victory in the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in 2013 and to a reasonable showing at the World Cup in Brazil but the Super Eagles failed to qualify for AFCON 2015 in Equatorial Guinea.
Keshi has been replaced by the inexperienced Sunday Oliseh, who has been advised by former Super Eagles coach, Christian Chukwu, to carefully study his contract before he proceeds on the job.
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