From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Mara Sugar for Najeeb Ibrahim 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barau have kept their man, and Niger Tornadoes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sunday Akinmoladun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ademola Onuachu after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Joseph Kemin is in the works
Niger Tornadoes 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Bayelsa United 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Niger Tornadoes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Terdoo Shimagande 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
The chances came and went for Kufre Ebong
14 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Niger Tornadoes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match8 Aug 2026
Plateau United left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sunday Akinmoladun 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Shehu Ejuke 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ifeanyi Sadiq 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Odion Moffi 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Derrick Julu and Niger Tornadoes agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Niger Tornadoes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Aliyu 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Wikki Tourists, and it could have been more.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Kufre Ebong, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Kufre Ebong at his very best
Marked 9.54. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Niger Tornadoes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismail Sarki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 21 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Niger Tornadoes have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Jude Mamman is in the works
Niger Tornadoes 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.