TheCable

Stephen Keshi will be in charge of the Super Eagles in their forthcoming 2015 AFCON qualifiers against Congo and South Africa in September, despite not reaching an agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on a new contract.

Keshi’s contract ended on June 30 during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and talks with the federation over a new deal are still in progress. But a source close to the Glass House confirmed to TheCable that Keshi will arrive Nigeria from his base in the United States this week to commence preparation for the games.

“Keshi will arrive the country in a matter of days and resume as Eagles coach regardless the situation with his contractual talks with NFF,” the source said.

“The federation knows the importance of those matches and doesn’t want to jeopardise the team’s chances of qualifying for the Cup of Nations despite the seeming impasse in the contract agreement with the coach.”

However, NFF assistant director of communications, Ademola Olajire, said he was unaware of such an agreement with Keshi and the football house.

“I’m not aware of that. I don’t know who made that arrangement with Keshi,” he told TheCable.

When questioned further on the development, he was abrupt in his response, simply saying: “I can’t talk about it.”

Nigeria, who are the defending AFCON champions, will host Congo on September 6 in Calabar and then face South Africa four days later in Cape Town.