It’s Thursday — and yeah, that Derby delight feels like it happened three lifetimes ago. To be honest, victories like that don’t fade easily. They’re the kind you savour slowly, like long-anticipated jollof at a village wedding. Delicious. Satisfying. Rare.
Still, with the finish line in sight, I’m just gonna avoid the temptation of putting this team under any kind of pressure. Whatever we are served between now and the rest of the season – be it jollof or Agidi white, so be it.
Now, let’s talk about stars — not the ones in the sky, but the blue ones in Ikenne. Remo Stars, take a bow. On Sunday, they became NPFL champions for the very first time in their 15-year existence. This wasn’t some lucky burst of brilliance or a random flash in the pan. No, this was methodical. Strategic. Intentional.
Let’s put it in context: the last time a South West team won the NPFL was in Y2K — when Julius Berger still had Lagos buzzing. Fast forward to 2025, and here comes Remo Stars, climbing their way from obscurity to the summit of Nigerian football.
Ikenne has quietly become the new football Mecca. The Remo Stars Stadium has outshone the mighty MKO Abiola Stadium. If CAF hadn’t said “only Uyo, please,” we’d all be trooping to Ikenne for continental games. That’s how much they’ve raised the bar.
But this isn’t just about turf and tiles. Behind the infrastructure is a fully functional, talent-churning academy — a conveyor belt of quality, supplying players not just to Europe, but to Nigerian clubs, African leagues, and everything in between. The academy was even promoted to the NPFL last season (wink, wink — we all know what happened next).
Now, I know comparing a private club to a government-owned one in Nigeria is like comparing a smartphone to a landline — different ecosystems. But still, there are lessons here. Big ones.
Enyimba have been around longer. We’ve had the same core group running things for over two decades. We’ve won, we’ve conquered, we’ve been the pride of the land. But what next? Instead of riding on our legacy, we’ve stagnated. The calls for a shake-up weren’t born out of mischief — they were born out of watching time pass us by.
And here’s the twist: even bringing in ex-internationals hasn’t exactly turned us into a football utopia. Remember Kanu’s bold claim that we’d be playing Arsenal in a couple of seasons? I watched our boys on Sunday. Then I watched Arsenal on Tuesday. And let’s just say… we need more than prayer and prestige to make that dream a reality.
Still not convinced we should take notes from Ikenne? Ask why a certain player picked Remo over us — even when we offered more. Or why, in 2025, we’re still yanking players’ licences mid-season like it’s an episode of Who Wants To Be a Footballer?
The truth is this: growth doesn’t happen by accident. It takes planning. Vision. Execution. The best day to start was yesterday. The next best is now.
Congrats again, Remo Stars. Welcome to the league of champions. We’ll keep your seat warm — you know, the one behind our nine trophies.
But if we want to keep our place at the table, we need to stop looking in the mirror of the past and start building for the future.
‘EnyimbaEnyi
