Followers of Enyimba Football Club were worried at the beginning of the current EuroMatch Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) when the Peoples Elephant could not win a single game after four matches.

There were fears then that the two-time African champions, who escaped relegation on the last day of the 2025/26 season, would go down to the lower division if things did not turn around immediately.

Racked by a fractious leadership tussle, which pitted the club’s Chairman, Kanu Nwankwo, against the Sporting Director, Daniel Eke, said to be backed by bigwigs from the Abia State Ministry of Sports, the team was in a freefall.

But in the last few games, Enyimba have shown a remarkable recovery that has seen them winning three games and getting away draws when pundits predicted that they would lose. SO, what has changed.

Enyimba Head Coach, Lawrence Ukaegbu, also known as Danjuma, said it is because “the storm is over.”

Ukaegbu said that Enyimba is now poinsed to recover all the points they lost during their ‘trying period.’

According to the former junior international, Enyimba’s case is one of those things that happen to big teams, “but we are now working together to ensure that we make the best of this season.”

“The crisis really affected the players and our output on the field. But now everything has calmed down.

“The chairman, Kanu Nwankwo, has asked everyone to calm down and work together. It was a misunderstanding of roles, which should not have arisen in the first place. But Kanu is a calm man, who does his thing with all sense of responsibility. He has been able to galvanise the team, hence the results people are beginning to see.”

He said that there are still “some people whose ambition is to control the club, but our chairman has decided to focus on the task of leading Enyimba to glory.”

If the issues have not been totally resolved, then what makes Danjuma think the club will do well this season?

“The calibre of the technical adviser we have and the players in the team,” he said.

“Ask any of the teams that have faced us this season, even in matches we lost. They will tell you that Enyimba is the team to beat.

“We have a perfect technical advisor, Emmanuel Deutsch from Cameroon. He is well experienced. And the quality in the players we have makes me feel and believe that we will carry the league.

“Even if we don’t win the league, we will play in the continent next season.”

Enyimba, which currently sit on the 18th position in the EuroMatch NPFL, are away to Nasarawa United in Lafia this weekend. (Guardian)