Despite protestations to the contrary, last weekend's events have very clearly illustrated that the seemingly calm relationship between Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi and his employers at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was just the prelude to a storm.
Things bubbled over on Friday when the NFF found Keshi's name on a shortlist published by the Ivory Coast FA. According to the Ivorians, the listed coaches had "indicated their intentions" to replace manager Herve Renard, who left last month to take up coaching duties with Ligue 1 club Lille.
It was not to be an entirely amusing discovery. A flurry of phone calls followed, in which Ivorian FA officials confirmed to their Nigerian counterparts that Keshi had indeed applied for the position.
A disciplinary committee hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, at which Keshi was expected to state his own side of the case. Keshi's agent Emmanuel Ado released a statement via Facebook that was intended to clarify issues but only served to muddy the waters.
Following calls by some journalists that my client Mr. Stephen Keshis' and others like Giovanni Trapttoni,Raymond...
Posted by Emmanuel Ado on Saturday, June 20, 2015
Rather than categorically deny that Keshi applied to the Ivory Coast, the majority of Ado's statement obfuscated and ended with accusations directed at "enemies of peace" for trying to cause "distractions".
Two days later, it was full-blown warfare as Ado released another Facebook post. This time, the gloves were off, and it put into words what had been an open secret since Keshi signed his new contract: that all was not well between the two parties.
Nigeria is a very interesting country.A country where a molehill will suddenly become a mountain....and you will be...
Posted by Emmanuel Ado on Monday, June 22, 2015
There is a widespread belief that the NFF only re-signed Keshi under pressure from the very top of the Nigerian government and can't wait to be rid of him. Ado's furious post all but confirmed that. He pointedly accused certain unnamed people, presumably members of the NFF executive committee, of trying to get Keshi sacked with claims that the coach was behind the arrest of former NFF president Aminu Maigari and ExCo member Chris Green last year.
Even more stunning, Ado claimed that these people prayed for the Super Eagles to lose against Chad in order to make it easier to fire Keshi. In the buildup to this month's African Nations Cup qualifier against Chad, Keshi was at his diplomatic best as he deflected questions of any lingering conflict with the NFF.
These extraordinary allegations from Ado speak to a simmering undercurrent of deep distrust between coach and federation. Lending credibility to this state of affairs is the NFF's decision to strip Keshi of the sole responsibility for player selection.
This action was apparently triggered by three puzzling selection decisions.
The first, during his first term, was Stephen Morah, a player from the National Youth Service Corps who had never played for any club side. Morah failed to make the grade and has not been heard of since.
Last month Keshi called up amateur player Joe Omale of Dekina Dragons into the squad to face Chad. Two days into training camp, the player was unceremoniously axed for not being good enough.
What seemed to prove the final straw was the call-up of another non-league player, Okechukwu Gabriel, a forward from Water FC. NFF bosses were particularly irked, not only by Keshi's decision to give a place to a player who failed to make the final cut for the Under-20 World Cup squad, but to hand him the senior team's revered No. 10 shirt.
While this may look bad at first glance, Keshi has always been known to favour building from the ground up by blooding unknown talent.
Sunday Mba, unknown to all but the keenest followers of Nigerian league football, emerged as the hero of the 2013 Nations Cup triumph.
Babatunde Michael raised eyebrows when he was picked for the World Cup. When he suffered a broken arm during group play, Nigerians wailed in despair. Many point to his absence as a key reason the Super Eagles failed to go beyond the round of 16.
And then there is China-based Aaron Samuel, whose heroics as a substitute came so close to rescuing the Super Eagles' bacon in their ultimately unsuccessful quest to reach the 2015 African Nations Cup finals. More recently, against Chad, Kingsley Madu, Anderson Esiti and William Troost-Ekong continued that shining tradition.
The only difference, perhaps, is that these are professional players, not amateurs.
Still, Keshi's personal defence has not closed the coaching issue. Green, chairman of the NFF's disciplinary committee and one of those widely believed to be among Ado's targets, says the investigation will continue, with a letter to the Ivorian FA to establish how they came to shortlist Keshi in the first place.
For now, this storm may have abated somewhat, but if the past is anything to go by, brace for more in the coming months.
That the manager is able to operate in such an atmosphere is something of a modern marvel. As Ado pointed out in a radio interview, "Keshi is not a quitter and will continue to do his job like a professional."
This no longer has the look of a marriage of convenience. Divorce, of the fractious variety, is an option that remains permanently on the table.