Usman Abbas

Left Back - El-Kanemi Warriors
18 Sep 2026
Friday
Process

Marked for Usman Abbas

6 Edition

The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Usman Abbas asks to leave El-Kanemi Warriors

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 23 signed and 19 gone

That is the business done at El-Kanemi Warriors until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad

Wasiu Jimoh 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 El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Ovie Ejaria

El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Oviedo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

No hiding place for Risilanu Ismail

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Risilanu Ismail, and the manager let it.

Squad

Home comes calling for Hilary Gong

A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. El-Kanemi Warriors have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.

Squad

Usman Abubakar signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Usman Abubakar and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 3 years.

Market

Still no ink between El-Kanemi Warriors and Wisdom Magbisa

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at El-Kanemi Warriors, another week without a signature from Wisdom Magbisa.

The dugout

Thankgod Ikeagwu knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thankgod Ikeagwu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
1 Edition

The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A move Wasiu Jimoh would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Wasiu Jimoh is living that version at El-Kanemi Warriors, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Thankgod Ikeagwu signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thankgod Ikeagwu commits to El-Kanemi Warriors for another 3 years.

Squad

A row about effort at El-Kanemi Warriors

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinedu Chukwu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Rivers United take the points off El-Kanemi Warriors

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words exchanged at El-Kanemi Warriors

Risilanu Ismail 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.

Market

El-Kanemi Warriors and Wasiu Jimoh are talking past each other

“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.

The dugout

William Lookman: “No excuses”

“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.

Player ratings

Tosin Olawale runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Transfer targets

El-Kanemi Warriors try to borrow Domingos Andrade

Botafogo have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief