“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sunday Megwo and Abia Warriors agree another 4 years.
Amadi James 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.
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.
Nobody at Abia Warriors will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Onyekachi Thompson is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wisdom Faruk and Abia Warriors agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Abia Warriors, another week without a signature from Ali Ishaku.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Warri Wolves will make the call about Nmecha Johnson this week. Abia Warriors have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
The dugoutSunday Megwo asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Abia Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Abia Warriors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Warri Wolves moved on, Nmecha Johnson reports back to Abia Warriors, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Abia Warriors have gone to Warri Wolves with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Abia Warriors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$3.0K on the table at Kwara United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I watch every Abia Warriors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Remo Stars runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wikki Tourists waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Abia Warriors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Abia Warriors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
The offer from Ikorodu City for Nmecha Johnson 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bright Sunday will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Abia Warriors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Abia Warriors can tell you which week it ends in.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Abia Warriors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Ikorodu City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nmecha Johnson. The answer from Abia Warriors has not changed — yet.
“I did not go to Remo Stars to sit and watch. I want to come back to Abia Warriors and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Adebayo Nwakali left the room before anybody could ask which.
Elu Wilson 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.
Marked 7.69. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Adebayo Nwakali, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Bethel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Chidiebere Nnachi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Adebayo Nwakali on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad15 Mar 2027
David Bethel 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shedrack Asiegbu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
Player ratingsSunday Megwo beats them one at a time
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.47 on the card, and the Abia Warriors support went home talking about one name.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Adebayo Nwakali, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nmecha Johnson has his answer from Abia Warriors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francis Obumneme, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Sunday Megwo
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Abia Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
“I watch every Abia Warriors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Korabi Peshkopi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Abia Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nzubechi Sunday is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Somiari Alalibo and Abia Warriors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Maxwell Kangeshima 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.
“I watch every Abia Warriors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lushnja runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chibuike Daniel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shedrack Asiegbu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Adebayo Nwakali could afford to be generous.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Abia Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ali Ishaku knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Faiz Jibrin 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Ali Ishaku 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.
0‑3 against El-Kanemi Warriors, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Somiari Alalibo commits to Abia Warriors for another 4 years.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Abia Warriors dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Adebayo Nwakali to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Abia Warriors has been clear about where Nmecha Johnson stands, which is more than many ever get.