David Adeleke

Right Back - Abia Warriors
27 Feb 2027
Saturday
Process

Marked for David Adeleke

30 Edition

The Abia Warriors Post

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

18 unbeaten for Abia Warriors

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 18 matches without defeat is a foundation Abia Warriors did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Tempers go at Abia Warriors

Chukwuemeka Obioma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onyekachi Thompson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Chidiebere Nnachi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Onyekachi Thompson

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Onyekachi Thompson has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Abia Warriors will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

Match

Suraju Lawal rescues a point for Abia Warriors

It needed Suraju Lawal to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Nasarawa United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Olayinka Onyeka on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Olayinka Onyeka after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Looking ahead

A reunion for David Bethel

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Niger Tornadoes in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

Back issues
4 Edition

The Abia Warriors Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Nmecha Johnson is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Nmecha Johnson: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

The small margins put Abia Warriors out

Out, 1‑1 to Kano Pillars, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Player ratings

A debut Isaiah David will not forget — 7.86

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.86 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

Market

Yakub Hameed puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

David Adeleke goes up and wins it — 7.55

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.55 for the rest of it.

Market

Abia Warriors turn down Etoiles du Mande for Imo Obot

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A falling-out at Abia Warriors

Chukwuemeka Obioma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Abia Warriors

The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Chidiebere Nnachi

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief