Marked for Peace Dewan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Wikki Tourists, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer from Ikorodu City for Sadeeq Abubakar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 Aug 2027
Peace Dewan 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peace Dewan, and the manager let it.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Sani Ibrahim falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market16 Aug 2027
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market16 Aug 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2027
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Oke Kayode 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Nwokeji was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Onyia Henry, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Something was said to Emmanuel Ofori and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Denis Chigozie is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Wikki Tourists came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2027
“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 Bendel Insurance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Apr 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Oke Kayode in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinedu Nwosu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bendel Insurance told Emmanuel Akpan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Aug 2026
Out, 1‑3 to Abia Warriors, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Kelvin Akinmola, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Bendel Insurance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Oke Kayode in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barau have kept their man, and Bendel Insurance go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Sabiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ebuka Okoro, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bendel Insurance have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Barau is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Bendel Insurance had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ikorodu City, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market17 Aug 2026
Joshua Baba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bendel Insurance they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Alex Oweilayefa — 7.84
Marked 7.84. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Oke Kayode and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ebuka Okoro falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Oke Kayode at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bendel Insurance.
Match15 Aug 2026
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Nasarawa United had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.