It was a result that took winning coach Stephen Keshi into the record books as he equalled the feat of late Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary by winning gold medals as a player and a coach.
Among the rewards for the Super Eagles was a $1.5 million first prize and a place at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, where they will face world and European champions Spain, Tahiti and Uruguay.
Nigeria were forced into a late pre-match change when striker and four-goal leading scorer Emmanuel Emenike was ruled out by a hamstring injury sustained in the semi-final rout of Mali and experienced Ikechukwu Uche took his place.
Burkina Faso were able to retain the team that started against Ghana in a semi-final settled by a shoot-out after the red card given to midfielder Jonathan Pitroipa was rescinded when the referee admitted he erred.
It was only the third time the countries have met in the 56-year competition with Nigeria beating then-Upper Volta 4-2 in 1978 and Burkina Faso snatching a stoppage-time 1-1 draw in a Nelspruit group game last month.
The Mba goal gave the Super Eagles a deserved 1-0 half-time lead after 45 minutes that followed a predictable script with Nigeria dominating possession and scoring chances while the Burkinabe relied largely on counter-attacks.
Mba, one of two home-based stars in the starting line-up, struck on 40 minutes with a penalty-box flick over Mohamed Koffi and a left-foot shot into the far corner past helpless goalkeeper Daouda Diakite.
It was an opportunist goal by Mba and his second of the tournament, having struck a superb match-winner in the 2-1 quarter-final defeat of pre-tournament title favourites Ivory Coast.
Nigeria should have taken the lead much earlier as Diakite spilled a cross on 10 minutes into the path of Brown Ideye, whose shot at an unguarded goal was just too high.
A combination of Nigerian midfield creativity and a couple of defensive howlers by the Burkinabe offered several half chances to the Super Eagles that were squandered.
The early second-half exchanges mirrored the first period with the Nigerians pressing for a second goal that would leave opponents fielding a lone striker in Aristide Bance with a mountain to scale.
Diakiate did well to push away a hard, low Ideye cross-cum-shot and Moses should have done better in a two-on-one situation that favoured the Eagles only to timidly surrender possession with the Burkinabe goal in sight.
Although Spain-based Uche was a goal-scoring star of the qualifying campaign, he was making no impact on the final and gave way to Ahmed Musa nine minutes after half-time.
There was another Nigerian substitution not long after — this time enfored — with full-back Elderson Echiejile limping off to be replaced by Juwon Oshaniwa, while the Burkinabe introduced Wilfried Sanou for Florent Rouamba.
As the game moved into the final quarter there were chances at both ends with unmarked Musa slipping as he was poised to shoot inside the box and a Sanou drive at the other end finishing just wide of the far post.Nigeria’s third Africa Cup of Nations title, clinched here Sunday against Burkina Faso, was a huge personal triumph for coach Stephen Keshi — although the man himself would be loathe to admit it.
Big Boss, as the captain of the 1994 title-winning side is affectionately known, was hitting the continental jackpot as a coach at the third time of asking, after first-round knockouts with Togo in 2006 and Mali in 2010.
Part of the key to the Super Eagles’ 2013 success has been the 51-year-old’s bold yet heavily criticised gamble in calling up local-based players.
And, fittingly, it was one of this number, Sunday Mba, drawn from Nigerian league outfit Enugu Rangers, who got the decisive goal in the 1-0 victory to follow up his winner in the quarter-final over Ivory Coast.
Keshi had described his players as ‘his Hollywood Stars’ after sending Didier Drogba and company packing — but he, too, deserves an Oscar for defying the tens of millions of ultra-critical wannabe national managers back home in Lagos.
At times charismatic, belligerent, terse and witty, but never dull, the former bull of a centre-back gained entry to an exclusive club of those to be crowned kings of Africa as both player and coach.
The only other man to accomplish that feat was the late Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary, who helped his country defeat Sudan 2-1 in the 1959 final and guided the Pharaohs to a 2-0 victory over South Africa 39 years later.
As a player, Keshi triumphed with a golden generation of Super Eagles in a 2-1 victory against a Zambia team rebuilt one year after the plane crash off Gabon that wiped out the national squad.
Reflecting on the differences between then and now, Keshi, who spent most of his playing career in Belgium, said: “The 1994 squad was unbelieveable.
“We were brothers, there was a great spirit in the team, now there is the talent, but we need a strong mentality and character.”
His band of brothers demonstrated plenty of that here on Sunday night.
This win also laid to rest the bitter memories of the 1996 Nations Cup, when Keshi and his fellow Eagles were denied a shot at defending their title on South African soil when a political spat between the South African and Nigerian goverments kept them at home.
Fast forward 17 years and the imposing figure of Keshi could be seen pacing the Soccer City touchline like a lion hunting its prey up at Kruger National Park — barking instructions, arms flailing, his shaven head glistening under the floodlights.
On 40 minutes he had his arms in the air celebrating Mba’s opener.
Mba it was who had scored the winner in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Ivory Coast — after which Keshi, showing his caring gentler side, said “I want to kiss him!”
He has shown plenty of dignity, too, in South Africa.
On Saturday, at the eve-of-final press conference when he turned up looking like a Lagos street rapper, his baseball cap back to front, he warmly backed the decision to rescind the red card meted out to Burkina’s Jonathan Pitroipa.
When the final whistle sounded on Sunday, barely audible over the deafening din of 80,000 vuvuzelas (plastic trumpets), Keshi punched the air again, this time in a victory salute — before getting lost in a sea of embraces from his players and coaching staff
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