Japanese-American coach, Kenichi Yatsuhashi has revealed that it was his former assistant Yaw Preko who saved him from getting killed in Nigeria.
The duo – after working together at Hearts of Oak in 2016 – reunited at Nigeria Professional League side FC Ifeanyi Ubah some five months after their separation.
Kenichi – who was appointed upon the express request of Preko – was sacked after just a month in charge.
Club Chairman Chukwuma Ubah described the trainer as a nightmare and terrible mistake due to his high-handedness and stubbornness in explaining the decision to do away with his services.
Kenichi was reported to have been escorted by security men to the airport when he was leaving Nigeria to his base in Japan.
And he now drops hints of a near-death experience in the most populous West African nation.
According to Kenichi, but for the timely intervention of Preko, he would have died in Nigeria without anyone knowing.
“I can’t tell you everything, Bottom line, it was my assistant coach [Yaw Preko] at Hearts of Oak who asked me to come with him,” the 52-year-old told footballvsoblivion.
“He was offered an assistant coaching role, on the condition that I would be the head coach, because of the success we’d had at Hearts of Oak in Ghana.
“Myself and Yaw Preko, my assistant coach at that time, felt that it was a matter of life or death, seriously, for me to get out of the country and be safe.
“I can’t really elaborate more than that, but, if it wasn’t for him coming between me and many people, I would have been dead with anyone even knowing.”
After Kenichi’s exit in December 2016, Yaw Preko continued as head coach for Ifeanyi Ubah until October 2017 when he left to return home for the Black Satellites job.
