PHOTONEWS | Stephen Keshi’s Burial Rites

The funeral rites of late former Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, who died on June 8, has begun. It began with a requiem mass in Benin, Edo State, yesterday. The funeral mass held at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Airport Road, Benin. His corpse was brought to the church where he worshipped with his family and friends.After that, he was moved to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, where a novelty match was played in his honour, followed by the lying in state for his numerous admirers to pay their last respect.

The two-day event continued with the movement of the body to Asaba, the Delta state capital, where his body is currently lying in state at the stadium named after him by Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governor of the state. From Asaba, the body will leave for Illah, his homestead, to be received by the Obi Gbemudu, the Obi of Illah, along with his high chiefs. Keshi himself was a high chief of the Illah kingdom

After that, the body moves to St’ John, The Evangelist Catholic Church for a requiem mass; and then to his home in Illah, where the body will again lie in state for an hour before internment at the same venue. The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, who attended the event, described Keshi as a “super hero” who was renowned for doing the extraordinary.

“I have always described him as a ‘super hero’ because he was a super hero. He did not do things that were regular, he did things that were extraordinary.”