A former Head Coach of Lobi Stars FC of Makurdi, the defunct Ocean Boys FC of Yenagoa and an Instructor, Evans Ogenyi has said in an exclusive interview with VoiceSports‘ Terfa Alaghga, that he is eminently qualified to be Head Coach anywhere he goes and he said one of the biggest challenges affecting Nigerian football today is that management teams are not appointed based on knowledge of the game but on political considerations to compensate individuals. He also spoke on other issues.
Excerpts:
VoiceSports: For how long did you play football before going into the coaching profession?
Ogenyi: I played football briefly in Ado LGA where I hail from. I was representing the LG in the Benue State Governor’s Cup competition as a central defender and at the same time, also playing the role of an assistant coach of the team. Although, I had no formal training in coaching but they saw that I possessed the leadership qualities that would make a good coach if I acquired a formal training in coaching. It was based on my football that I was offered a job by the Ado Local Government Authority. After graduating from the Benue State Polytechnic Ugbokolo (Ben Poly), where I went for studies, I was sponsored by the LGA to the National Institute for Sports Lagos, to acquire a certificate in coaching.
VoiceSports: Did you play football when you were at the Ben Poly?
Ogenyi: Of course I was playing in the Departmental Games for my Department, where the Senator representing Zone C at the National Assembly, Abba Moro, was the Head of Department. In the course of playing for my Department, I was selected and I made the team that represented the school at the Nigerian Polytechnic Games (NIPOGA), at Nekede in Imo State. It was during the Games that I sustained an injury which cut short my dreams of playing active football to the highest level.
VoiceSports: Was coaching part of your dreams?
Ogenyi: Indeed it was because of the passion and interest that I had for the profession and since I couldn’t continue playing active football, I had to take to coaching as a career. Beside that, a lot of people were advising and encouraging me to go into the coaching profession believing that I would make a good coach because I had the organisational ability. That was why I made up my mind to go into full time coaching.
VoiceSports: Which team did you first coach after acquiring a certificate in coaching at the NIS?
Ogenyi: After completing my coaching course at the NIS, I returned and continued handling the Ado LG team with the late General Ifere as my assistant but at some point, I began wondering why I would still be at the local level after acquiring a certificate in coaching. For that reason, I decided to take a bold step by seeking employment with the Benue State Sports Council (BSSC) Makurdi, where I would gain more experience and exposure. Luckily for me, Lobi Stars FC placed an advert for the position of an Assistant Coach during the 1998/99 League season and when I applied I was employed as a Trainer. I came almost at the same time with Coach Godwin Uwua when Akwati Biam was the Chairman, Grace Iorhe was on the management team with Mike Idoko as the Team Manager. Shortly after we were employed, Tersoo Luga took over as Chairman and with God on our side, we got Lobi promoted to the National Division 1 League (now Premiership). In that same year also we won the first ever organised Pepsi League and represented the country on the continent.
VoiceSports: For how long did you coach Lobi Stars at that time, before leaving?
Ogenyi: I was there for several years and rose from the position of a Trainer to an Assistant Coach and later became the Chief Coach of Lobi and we won the League twice. During the 2007/2008 NPFL season, I left Lobi for the Ocean Boys FC of Yenagoa, and took over as the Head Coach. In fact, I stabilised Ocean Boys FC.
VoiceSports: How did you get the offer?
Ogenyi: When the Head Coach, Samson Unannuel left, they advertised for the position and when I applied and was invited for the interview, I was employed. My first major assignment with Ocean Boys FC, was the Federations Cup which after defeating Enyimba FC of Aba at the Semi-finals stage in Owerri, I played the final against the late Coach Justin Tenger tutored side, Gombe United FC of Gombe, at the Aper Aku Stadium Makurdi, and we won. Later in the same year, we also played and won the Charity Cup. These two trophies brought me to the limelight. In fact, after my team’s victory over Enyimba FC of Aba in Owerri, the Chairman of the Aba based side, Mr Anyansi told me that he was satisfied with what I was doing as a Coach and was looking forward to the day, when I shall come and sign a contract for Enyimba FC as the Technical Adviser
VoiceSports: Why was Ocean Boys victory over Gombe United in the FA Cup final significant to you?@
Ogenyi: Because it was my major assignment as Head Coach of a team and to crown it up, we played and won the Super Cup in the same year against the Coach Kadiri Ikhana led Kano Pillars FC, in Makurdi. He was assisted by Coach Salisu Yusuf. I was filled with joy and highly elated because these two victories brought me to the limelight and many teams like, Enyimba FC, Nasarawa United FC and other teams began to gun for me to join them.
VoiceSports: Were you honoured after the victory, by the Bayelsa State Government?
Ogenyi: Just like every other member of the team, I was equally disappointed with the government of Bayelsa State, for what they did to us. When we got to the Semi-finals, they showed me all the vehicles and made all the promises that they would reward me and the entire team after lifting the coveted trophy. Based on that, we were highly motivated and encouraged believing that after lifting the trophy, our lives would actually change. Upon return after the victory, they started playing funny tricks on us. They did not hold any reception in our honour let alone gifted us the vehicles. We heard from the grapevine that their decision not to celebrate us was because they were not very comfortable that the number of non indigenous players outweighed the indigenous players in the team. Weeks later, we received a letter from CAF, asking us to prepare for the commencement of the continental tournament. I was asked to start assembling players but because I was not happy with what they did, I had to leave for Nasarawa United FC.
VoiceSports: Why did you choose Nasarawa United FC over other teams that also wanted you?
Ogenyi: I chose Nasarawa United FC because of the nearness to my home in Makurdi. I was newly married with two little kids and because I was not always around with them, each time I came around after two months my children would be running away from me because they didn’t know me as their biological father. It was until when I stayed with them for two to three days before they would start coming close to me. This development affected me emotionally. That was why I opted for Nasarawa United FC in order to be close to my family so that we would be visiting each other regularly. However, my stay in Nasarawa United was brief because I received a phone call from the then Vice Chairman of Lobi Stars, Dominic Iorfa, requesting me to come and help rescue the team from sinking. Before I could say Jack Robinson, Iorfa sent a 504 car to pick me up from Lafia. I considered the invitation as a home call which if I did not honour, I didn’t know what would have been the outcome. Meanwhile, before the call from Iorfa requesting for my return to Lobi, a funny development played out which the then Nasarawa State Commissioner of Sports later told me. He said, “my son there is an executive order that Coach Bitrus Bewarang should be employed”. However, after the call from Iorfa and I went to the Commissioner to secure my release, he approved it and I left.
VoiceSports: Did you achieve the aim for which you were called to Lobi Stars?
Ogenyi: I achieved the aim. We collectively played our individual roles and Lobi did not go on relegation. To me, it was a remarkable achievement because I ensured a steady technical crew and a steady team. I really had a good time with Lobi, but I had to leave for Enyimba FC of Aba.
VoiceSports: Why then did you leave Lobi when you had a good time?
Ogenyi: I actually left for greener pastures. The then Director of Sports in Abia State, Coach Jude Anyande, who worked directly under the Chairman of Enyimba FC, Anyansi, came and stayed in Makurdi for two days just to ensure my approval and release to Enyimba FC. When I informed Iorfa of the development, he told me he was preparing to travel to London, and was intending to leave the team in my care and Mr Adeleke. I told him I had overstayed in Lobi and I needed a change of environment. I went on to say, “I am a man of history and would want to make history but if I remain in Lobi, I won’t make history and will not have a story to tell”. Iorfa’s response to me was really fatherly and touching. He narrated his story on how when he was frustrated during his play days at the defunct BCC Lions FC of Gboko, he and his wife decided that he would leave for either Ranchers Bees FC of Kaduna, or the defunct Abiola Babes FC Abeokuta and if possible, make waves for professional football abroad. He praised me for my decision to leave and he even gave me some money and asked me to go home and think about it and get back to him. I returned to him and told him that I wanted to leave and he approved of it.
VoiceSports: At Enyimba FC of Aba, did you play in any tournament?
Ogenyi: Of course at Enyimba FC, we played and lost in the Semi-finals of the CAF Champions League to Casablanca FC of Morocco, we played and also lost in the Federations Cup final to Heartland FC of Owerri. We won the first ever Presidential trophy against Kano Pillars FC, under Coach Ladan Bosso in Abuja. That was the trophy Mr Anyansi said he valued so much because it was in honour of the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan was coming to power and clubs were to compete for the trophy. I was also happy that I won it.
VoiceSports: How would you describe your stay at Enyimba FC of Aba?
Ogenyi: It was most exhilarating. I must confess, the club was truly run like a Professional FC and they abide by the tenets of your contract, they kept their promises to the team, I had a very comfortable accommodation, an official car, a guest house where my wife and kids visited me. Sincerely, throughout my coaching career, I have never enjoyed comfort in a team the way I did enjoy in Enyimba FC. Even Kano Pillars FC that tried their very best, it was incomparable to the Aba based side. Before I arrived in the evening to resume work at Aba, supporters were already waiting for me to take me to my house. They said they will not sleep until I arrive. In fact, I wept (tears of joy) because in my coaching experience, I have never been this respected. At Enyimba, Coach Abdul Maikaba was my first Assistant and it was when I left that they handed over my official car to him.
VoiceSports: Were you the Technical Adviser or the Head Coach?
Ogenyi: Thank you for this question Alaghga. At a point, I was the Technical Adviser and later as the Head Coach of the team which I honourably accepted. Don’t forget that before I joined the team, Coaches Okey Emordi and Kadiri Ikhana had won the CAF Champions League. Coach Emordi later left in peace for greener pastures to South Africa but unfortunately for him, the club he left Enyimba for was disbanded and he had to return to Enyimba, for us to work together. I had to take the position of the Head Coach. We worked together with so much understanding and without friction. However, I left Enyimba FC for Jigawa Golden Stars of Dutse.
VoiceSports: Did you also go to Jigawa Golden Stars FC for greener pastures?
Ogenyi: In fact, I regretted leaving Enyimba FC for Jigawa Golden Stars. Jigawa Golden Stars was not Professionally run at that time. In a Professionally run club, you need good players to have a quality team. Worst of all, when you present a proposal to a management and you are told to make do with what you have, your hands are tied. Imagine one leaving for a place with the hope of going to initiate a new and developmental project and the management is opposed to your good initiative, it is a different scenario all together. The club had no quality players and they did not have the plans to recruit them because they believed in the rookies that they had and when the game got mature, they fizzled. I stayed in Jigawa Golden Stars briefly and when Mike Idoko was appointed the Chairman of Lobi Stars, he invited me to come back to the team and when I did, I stayed very briefly too and left for Warri Wolves FC.
VoiceSports: Why did you stay briefly at Lobi this time?
Ogenyi: I left Lobi because I was denied the first position in the coaching crew of the team. They were trying to relegate me to the background by bringing in another coach that I believed was not better than me, when I knew I was eminently qualified to be the Head Coach.of the team. I couldn’t take it and I had to leave for Warri Wolves. I believe at this level to which God has taken me in coaching today, I should be a Head Coach anywhere I go except at the national team which is a different thing and I can be an assistant. I can tell you with every sense of seriousness that I don’t think I can play second fiddle to anybody and anywhere because I am eminently qualified to be the Head Coach anywhere I go.
VoiceSports: Did you encounter any problems at Warri Wolves FC?
Ogenyi: The problem I had at Warri Wolves was that they were not paying salaries regularly. Imagine players would be owed salaries for three months and in football, we have intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. With my experience in clubs like, the Enyimba FC of Aba and the model which Lobi Stars FC also copied under Dominic Iorfa, as you are winning your matches, your bonuses are paid to you without delay. That is the kind of motivation that the players like because they don’t touch their salaries. It disturbs them when they are not paid their bonuses and that is when you begin to hear them casually saying, “Coach, na bicos of you oo if not de one weh we de win sef dem de pay”? In fact, I don’t want to over flog the workings of certain clubs and as I earlier said, some clubs are not run professionally.
VoiceSports: Which club did you leave Warri Wolves FC for and who recommended you?
Ogenyi: I left for Kano Pillars FC and a foremost football administrator in Nigeria, the late Mallam Ibrahim Galadima recommended me. We were over forty coaches, including a Ghanaian and an Ivorian, who were interviewed for the position of Head Coach, facing a six-man panel with two Professors on the panel and I came first. I did not lobby for the position and after emerging, the late Galadima congratulated me for brilliantly answering both the practical and theoretical questions. He asked me to resume immediately and begin recruitment of the players at once which I did and with God on my side, throughout my playing in the NNL for that season, I lost only one match and I returned Pillars to the Premiership. The team went on relegation to the NNL in the 2021/22 season under Coach Salisu Yusuf, and when I was engaged, Mallam Galadima personally told me that Pillars is a brand and they want them to bounce back the following League season. God in his infinite mercy, used me to achieve that mandate in the 2022/23 League season. After the season, I gave the team a break and as we were preparing to resume for the 2023/24 NPFL season, somebody called me from Kano to say a new government led by Governor Abba Yusuf is in place and wants to restructure Pillars FC. When he said Coach Abdul Maikaba was lobbying for my position, advised me to stand up else I’ll lose my job for another person. The late Galadima too had to resign his appointment as Chairman of the club leaving over ₦11.000.000 in the team’s coffers. He was a man of integrity, an embodiment of humility and sincerity. It is also on record that he was the only NFF President that would go for an international football competition and return unspent money. I never knew such people still exist in the Nigerian Football administration.
VoiceSports: And you left Pillars for?
Ogenyi: Rivers United FC. I received a phone call from the management of the club, inviting me to come to Port Harcourt and work with Coach Stanley Eguma. We played in the Continent for two seasons in 2023 and 2024, and I must confess, I enjoyed my stay in Rivers United too and since it was a-two-year contract not renewable, I left for Pillars again for the 2024/25 NPFL season.
VoiceSports: You left for Pillars again, after all they did to you in the first place?
Ogenyi: Well, when Coach Abdul Maikaba was relieved of his appointment before the end of the season, Coach Abdallah took over the team and he too was dropped before the season ended. After concluding recruitment of players, they went through their records and invited me to come and take over the team and with God on my side, I won the Pre-season Ahlan- Gusau competition in Lafia, with the players that I inherited from the team. In the course of playing in the NPFL season,, they said they were not getting the results they wanted. Meanwhile, arrangements were concluded that in January this year, I would recruit players of my choice to strengthen the team but because they were not patient, they slammed an indefinite suspension on me and my Assistant Coach, Garba Yaro Yaro. We later terminated our appointments and I was paid all my entitlements up to the end of the season.
VoiceSports: Where did you go from there?
Ogenyi: At the time I left Kano Pillars, Wikki Tourists FC of Bauchi was almost sinking and Coach Abdul Maikaba too had resigned his appointment and left due to several reasons, one of which according to him was that they were interfering in his job. He left at a time no coach taking over can make any adjustments at all. I went to Wikki Tourists, two months before the end of the 2025/26 NPFL season. The people were very happy with me because I tried to change their philosophy of football. Although, we lost at the Quarter-finals stage of the 2026 FA Cup. I gave them a proposal in which I said for the team to do well in the League, they must embark on early recruitment of players which they agreed to but when politics played its ugly role, the Chairman was changed and I had to leave too. It was at that point that the Rivers State Commissioner of Youth and Sports and the Sole Administrator of Rivers United FC also invited me to join them to play in the Continent. My invitation was based on my experience in the continent, CAF and my coaching qualifications.
VoiceSports: How did Rivers United play in the Continent at that time you joined them?
Ogenyi: We played a 1-1 draw against Pedro FC in Abidjan and in our return leg in Uyo, Nigeria, when we thought we were going to win convincingly, we ended up playing a 2-2 draw. That was why we lost out of the Continent. I believe we lost the match due to over- confidence on the part of our players because Rivers United has a formidable team that is well organised. It is one of the teams in Nigeria, where the players are well paid. I was contracted as a consultant to the Technical crew for only the continental tournament because already, Coach Finidi George was there as the Head Coach and he had his Chief Coach and there was no way I could continue under any other arrangements.
VoiceSports: As a renowned coach, what would you say are the challenges affecting Nigerian football today?
Ogenyi: One of the biggest challenges affecting Nigerian football today is that management teams are not appointed based on knowledge of the game but on political considerations to compensate individua
