Keshi hawked yams in Lagos

A childhood friend and teammate of late former Super Eagles handler, Stephen Keshi, Paul Okoku, has revealed how the coach hawked yams for survival in Ebute-Metta area of Lagos State in the 70s.
The AFCON ’84 silver medalist made this sterling revelation in a tribute to Keshi on Monday.
According to Okoku, Keshi did lots of domestic chores for his parents and as a child, he helped his mum to sell yam to put food on the table.
He said: “Before going to school, he would carry yam on his head, in the morning, trekked miles through the railway line to Oke Ira, from Ojo Oniyun Street, Ebute-Metta, to deliver to his late mum at the Tejuosho market and then rushed home to get ready for school.
“This, he did, even when he was in primary school.
“I was doing the same thing.
“In my case, it was bread.
“There’s so much to talk about his humble beginnings that only a book with thousands of pages will suffice.
“Stephen ‘Bobby Moore’ Keshi was my childhood play mate, my youthful and faithful companion; he was a brother, a teammate and my captain. We ate from the same plate at each others houses.
“We were friends since our preteen age, and followed the same football (soccer) career path. He was personable, shy, humorous, charismatic, and disciplined as an individual and as a captain. He was not a womanizer; he never skipped camp to go partying, in fact, he detested that wholeheartedly. Hence, he led by example.”