Samuel Faniyi has gone, the accounts have $140.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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.
Remo Stars paid $140.0K and Abia Warriors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ikorodu City have kept their man, and Abia Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chindi Merpring and Abia Warriors agree another 4 years.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Terem Obi to a room that had heard them before.
Abia Warriors have made the call to Barau. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.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 board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Abia Warriors
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sunday Abdullahi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Chinedu Kalu has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Olisa Abdullahi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imo Obot 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Samuel Ogunjimi is on it.
“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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Abia Warriors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Ferdinand Notani 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imo Obot 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nzubechi Sunday trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Abia Warriors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Terem Obi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadWords at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Abia Warriors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Abia Warriors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imo Obot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Adeleke is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imo Obot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shedrack Asiegbu is on it.
“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.
“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 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 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.
SquadThe training reports on Samuel Faniyi are not good
14Edition
The Abia Warriors Post
2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chidiebere Nnachi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Effimi Nsi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Chukwuemeka Obioma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imo Obot 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Abia Warriors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Azubuike Casmir is on it.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Somiari Alalibo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Abia Warriors have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Chijindu Godwill is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A 2‑1 win over Bendel Insurance, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 117th minute. Bendel Insurance will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Chindi Merpring 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alex Okoye has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adebayo Bassey is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. David Awaziem has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sunday Adeleye is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Terem Obi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shedrack Asiegbu is on it.
12 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Abia Warriors squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Samuel Faniyi reports back to Abia Warriors with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayelsa United have kept their man, and Abia Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Samuel Ogunjimi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Abia Warriors.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Samuel Ogunjimi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
Chibuike Daniel, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.17
A mark of 8.17 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.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Abia 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.
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.
Abia Warriors asked and Nasarawa United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Abia Warriors will try again when the window opens; Barau may not be selling by then.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A 2‑0 win over Bayelsa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Add another name to the list: Nasarawa United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Samuel Faniyi. The answer from Abia Warriors has not changed — yet.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
A 1‑1 win over Plateau United, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$390.0K settles it between the clubs for Godwin Akpo
Barau have accepted the money. What Abia Warriors do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
David Chinagorom, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Azubuike Casmir has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
“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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Abia Warriors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Terem Obi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imo Obot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Shedrack Asiegbu obliged against Barau. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Abia Warriors.
“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 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.
At 21 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imo Obot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Warri Wolves for Fatai Abdullahi 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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Somiari Alalibo and Abia Warriors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Terem Obi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andrew Abalogu has his answer from Abia Warriors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.35 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Sunday Megwo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chukwuemeka Obioma and Abia Warriors agree another 3 years.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Effimi Nsi 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.
A 2‑0 win over El-Kanemi Warriors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chidiebere Nnachi 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.