Beset by boardroom wrangling, welfare disputes and declining performances, nine-time Nigerian champions Enyimba are facing a defining moment that calls for a comprehensive reset. ABIODUN ADEWALE reports on the deepening leadership crisis and explores potential remedies Nigeria’s most decorated football club, Enyimba Football Club, is battling one of the most turbulent periods in its history. What should have been a rebuilding phase after their ninth Nigeria Premier Football League title has instead descended into a leadership crisis marked by two rival coaches, two sporting directors, unpaid player bonuses and growing political interference. The last has definitely not been heard about the administrative crisis bedevilling the country’s most successful club and it may well erode the club’s legacy before anyone can salvage it. At the heart of the turmoil is an alleged power struggle between club chairman Nwankwo Kanu and officials of the Abia State Government — a standoff that now threatens to erode the legacy painstakingly built over decades. With players confused, fans enraged and results deteriorating, the pressing question remains: who is truly in charge of Enyimba? In three years under the chairmanship of Kanu, a former Nigeria captain and two-time African Footballer of the Year, the club’s legacy — built before and during the 24-year reign of Felix Anyasi-Agwu — appears to be unravelling. The decline is worsened by the ongoing reported power play between Kanu and members of the Abia State Executive Council. Kanu was appointed in July 2023, shortly after the club’s ninth Nigeria Premier Football League triumph. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Nigeria’s most decorated football club, Enyimba Football Club, is battling one of the most turbulent periods in its history. What should have been a rebuilding phase after their ninth Nigeria Premier Football League title has instead descended into a leadership crisis marked by two rival coaches, two sporting directors, unpaid player bonuses and growing political interference. The last has definitely not been heard about the administrative crisis bedevilling the country’s most successful club and it may well erode the club’s legacy before anyone can salvage it. At the heart of the turmoil is an alleged power struggle between club chairman Nwankwo Kanu and officials of the Abia State Government — a standoff that now threatens to erode the legacy painstakingly built over decades. With players confused, fans enraged and results deteriorating, the pressing question remains: who is truly in charge of Enyimba? In three years under the chairmanship of Kanu, a former Nigeria captain and two-time African Footballer of the Year, the club’s legacy — built before and during the 24-year reign of Felix Anyasi-Agwu — appears to be unravelling. The decline is worsened by the ongoing reported power play between Kanu and members of the Abia State Executive Council. Kanu was appointed in July 2023, shortly after the club’s ninth Nigeria Premier Football League triumph. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. The last has definitely not been heard about the administrative crisis bedevilling the country’s most successful club and it may well erode the club’s legacy before anyone can salvage it. At the heart of the turmoil is an alleged power struggle between club chairman Nwankwo Kanu and officials of the Abia State Government — a standoff that now threatens to erode the legacy painstakingly built over decades. With players confused, fans enraged and results deteriorating, the pressing question remains: who is truly in charge of Enyimba? In three years under the chairmanship of Kanu, a former Nigeria captain and two-time African Footballer of the Year, the club’s legacy — built before and during the 24-year reign of Felix Anyasi-Agwu — appears to be unravelling. The decline is worsened by the ongoing reported power play between Kanu and members of the Abia State Executive Council. Kanu was appointed in July 2023, shortly after the club’s ninth Nigeria Premier Football League triumph. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. At the heart of the turmoil is an alleged power struggle between club chairman Nwankwo Kanu and officials of the Abia State Government — a standoff that now threatens to erode the legacy painstakingly built over decades. With players confused, fans enraged and results deteriorating, the pressing question remains: who is truly in charge of Enyimba? In three years under the chairmanship of Kanu, a former Nigeria captain and two-time African Footballer of the Year, the club’s legacy — built before and during the 24-year reign of Felix Anyasi-Agwu — appears to be unravelling. The decline is worsened by the ongoing reported power play between Kanu and members of the Abia State Executive Council. Kanu was appointed in July 2023, shortly after the club’s ninth Nigeria Premier Football League triumph. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. In three years under the chairmanship of Kanu, a former Nigeria captain and two-time African Footballer of the Year, the club’s legacy — built before and during the 24-year reign of Felix Anyasi-Agwu — appears to be unravelling. The decline is worsened by the ongoing reported power play between Kanu and members of the Abia State Executive Council. Kanu was appointed in July 2023, shortly after the club’s ninth Nigeria Premier Football League triumph. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Kanu was appointed in July 2023, shortly after the club’s ninth Nigeria Premier Football League triumph. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. His appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, in a brief statement: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles star, Kanu Nwankwo, has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.” Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Unfortunately, that triumph remains the club’s last silverware, as their fortunes began to decline a year later. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Commotion In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. In the past two months, the club has made headlines for the wrong reasons — from Governor Alex Otti summoning officials over the CAF Super League $1m prize money, to players training separately from the technical crew in protest over unpaid match bonuses and the presence of two coaches in the dugout. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. On January 18, Kanu approved the appointment of Deji Ayeni as head coach, replacing Stanley Eguma. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. One week later, the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced the appointment of Cameroonian coach Emmanuel Deutsch as the state government’s choice. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Deutsch was unveiled at the Enyimba International Stadium on Tuesday by the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the state Commissioner for Sports, Nwaobilor Ananaba — while Ayeni simultaneously took charge of training. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Similarly, Kanu appointed former international Uche Okechukwu to replace Ifeanyi Ekwueme as sporting director. However, the state government announced Daniel Eke as sporting director instead. Eke was later reassigned as Chief Scouting Officer by Kanu — a move that drew rebuttals from government quarters. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. It is now a case of one club, one chairman, two coaches, two sporting directors, and multiple vested interests. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. So, who is truly in charge of Enyimba? Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Players lament “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “We don’t even know who is in charge,” a newly recrited player told The PUNCH. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “Results are bad on the pitch, but the problems among those running the club are enough to affect us. Imagine training in the morning with one coach, only to see another coach unveiled in the stadium later that day.” Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Players also alleged unpaid match bonuses and outstanding sign-on fees. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “They owe some old players. Even some of us haven’t received our sign-on fees. We heard figures were inflated to the government. The situation is confusing,” another player said. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “My sign-on fee is about N1m, but we heard they usually get N5m from the government. Where does the rest go?” “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “To make matters worse, we sometimes play on empty stomachs,” he added. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Finding out who is in charge is a multi-layered process, and it’s not just about the powers within the state’s Executive Council, who are now checkmating Kanu with their own playbook. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Kanu seemed like the undisputed candidate of Governor Otti to steer the affairs of the club in 2023. From shared experiences with former players and former coaches in the last three years, the ex-international left the club on autopilot, trusting his former teammate and former sporting director, Ekwueme, and some other staff, with the affairs of the club. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. However, followers of Nigerian football opine that whatever the ex-international did in the name of delegation amounted to incompetence on his part and right under his nose, the club is fast relinquishing its Nigerian giants status and heading for the relegation zone. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Kanu’s tenure The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. The handwriting of the drama that would play out at Enyimba under Kanu began to appear in the form of handwritten names and numbers on one of the players’ jerseys during the African Football League in October 2023, a few months after he took over. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. During their first-leg quarter-final match against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in Uyo, defender Innocent Gabriel’s jersey No. 3 was handwritten instead of printed. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. A top official of the club played down the anomaly, saying it was a result of a mix-up between the continental body CAF and Enyimba. Related News Abia hosts business roundtable to boost private sector APC, PDP chieftains in Abia back Otti for 2027 Okobi unmoved by Falcons return criticisms Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Whatever the excuse was, it was a classless act that undermined the club’s professional image and highlighted deeper organisational lapses, particularly for a team with Enyimba’s pedigree on the continental stage. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. In the last two years, there have been issues of managerial instability, which have seen them hire four coaches in two years, alongside performance decline and a meltdown in players’ welfare. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Since picking a modest CAF Confederation Cup slot in the 2023/24 season, the club has endured a prolonged winless run, slipping into mid-table in the following season (2024/25) and sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the current campaign. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. The criticism has gone beyond the players and coaches as well, with suggestions that player acquisitions lacked sufficient technical input and strategic coherence. The struggle on the pitch is not unconnected to issues of players’ welfare, which remain the most substantiated controversy of Kanu’s tenure. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. In December 2024, following a 3–0 defeat to Black Bulls FC in Maputo during their ill-fated CAF Confederation Cup campaign, multiple sources — also confirmed by The PUNCH — reported how the team was stranded in Maputo due to logistical and financial shortcomings. Players were allegedly left without estacode allowances, while return travel arrangements were delayed, leaving officials and squad members in extended uncertainty. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. On one of such trips as well, the club reportedly bought travel tickets over the counter at the airport, while players like ex-Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye championed the cry-out over their unpaid bonuses. Ideye’s decision to join the club on a short-term contract, which was initially celebrated, ended in acrimony over bonus disputes. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Administratively, Kanu was also accused of illegally firing the club’s former accountant, Ebere Ahiara, who later claimed the club owed him N38m in unpaid benefits. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Fans want Kanu out If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. If Governor Otti appointed Kanu, why is it then difficult for him to remove him, if truly his leadership has been oozing incompetence? Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Some of the members of his executive council have also seen enough bad results to jump on, but they still can’t bring the governor to sack Kanu while the club continues to sink. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. With eight wins after 27 matches this season, they sit 14th on the NPFL table with 32 points, just one point above the relegation zone. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. It’s also impossible for the fans to look away. They have watched their team conquer Africa twice in the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004 can’t stomach the idea of being relegated. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. On Tuesday, they were at the stadium to express their anguish and they went as far as threatening to beat the ex-international. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “I was born and brought up in this stadium. This is the first time in history that Enyimba will be in the 14th position,” one of the fans lamented. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “We no get chairman. If him come here, we go beat am (We don’t have a chairman. If he comes here, we will beat him),” another fan said. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “Let Kanu Nwankwo resign from this job or else we will beat him. What has he done for Abia State?” The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. The Enyimba Fan Blog has quite a lot of summaries about the poorly directed drama playing out at Enyimba. In one of their latest posts, they are hoping that Kanu reads the room. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “This is not a minor misunderstanding. It is a deep, slow-burning crisis, eating away at the fabric of the club until one day we will look up and find there is nothing left to fight for,” the blog post read. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “So here is my Tuesday musing, served with a dash of bitter truth. If you truly love Enyimba, Mr Chairman, read the room. And for heaven’s sake, let go. I mean, you have already written a pathetic legacy for yourself. Or are you still not done?” Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Kanu silent Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Following the development at the club, our correspondent sent a WhatsApp message to Kanu for his reaction, but the former Inter Milan man had yet to reply to the message as of the time of filing this report. He also did not pick up calls to his mobile number. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Can Enyimba bounce back? Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Apparently, a lot has gone wrong at Enyimba, but with the Deputy Governor stepping in, keen observers will be watching how events will play out and if they can still save the club, at least this season, before remoulding their fast-fading identity. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. A former Abia Warriors Team Manager, Imo Azubuike, believes that Enyimba will rise again if the Kanu-led board can take a cue from those who masterminded the success of the club pre-2023. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Azubuike advised Kanu to scout for competent marketers to rebrand the club and sell it to the corporate world instead of relying on the state government for every one of the team’s needs. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “Enyimba has become too large to be dependent on just monthly subvention from the Abia State Government. I am sure in the governor’s heart, he wishes to get Enyimba off his wage bills. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. “This can be done, but Kanu and his team must be intentional about it. It starts with taking the right step and activating the market. When the institutions are in place, the successors would build on them, but when there are no legacies left, apparently whoever is taking over would be confused and wouldn’t know where to start from.” According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. According to reports in Aba, the Deputy Governor has promised to look into every issue of welfare raised by the players during their meeting last Tuesday. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. But some questions are still unanswered: what becomes of coach Ayeni, and will the newly appointed coach and sporting director work seamlessly with Kanu? Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Perhaps the fresh start had begun on Sunday with Cameroonian coach Deutsch in charge of their 1-1 draw at Rivers United on Sunday. There has been no official communication about the fate of Ayeni and Okechukwu, but that should be clear in the coming days. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria. Time, they say, will tell, but hopefully it won’t be too late for the most successful team in Nigeria.
Two coaches, two sporting directors: Who is in charge of Enyimba?
