Before I joined Gombe United Football Club, I have handled a number of clubs, especially across the middle belt and the north. I started coaching by handling Akpoo System FC of Adikpo, an amateur club based in my hometown in Benue State. I later joined Lobi Stars, my first Premier League club. From there I moved to Katsina United, and to Kano Pillars. From there I went to Niger Tornadoes. And from Niger Tornadoes to Elkanemi Warriors of Maiduguri. I thereafter joined Gombe United and later had a second spell at Lobi before returning to Gombe where I am at present.

I came to Gombe United the first time in April 2004 when the team was battling relegation. I was drafted in and at the end of that season we did not only escape relegation but finished in the eighth position. The management of the team retained me to continue till the next season, which was 2005, and I spent the whole of that season in with the Club United. Though we didn't win anything, we ended up in the fourth place, which was an improvement on the previous season. At the end of that season (2005), I left for Elkanemi. And it was from Elkanemi that I went to Kano Pillars and then back to Gombe United till this time. Already, I have spent one season in Gombe United.

First, we had the backing of Almighty God because we passed through difficult times during the league and before the kick off of the FA Cup. Just as the Commissioner for Sports, Alhaji Ahmed Yayari, has explained in an interview he granted Saturday Independent, we were fighting so many forces; especially disunity in the management and this had adverse effect on the team.

But luckily, midway into the second stage of the league some of these problems were solved and I commend the sports commissioner for his efforts. Consequently, the players became more composed, which culminated in our playing better in the league in the second round than in the first round. And the FA Cup kicked off at a time we were very organised.

We were really set. And that was the motivating factor that pushed us forward. In addition, the backing from government was tremendous.

Everybody goes into a competition to win. And everybody aspires to the first position. But the fact is that no one can change the decision of God. I wouldn't say my boys played below expectation. No. They played very well. We scored first, they equalised. In the second half, we scored again first; they levelled up at about 11 minutes to the end of the match. All the circumstances that surround a match, I attribute them to the will of God. Then we went into penalties, which could go either way. I will not praise myself or any person to have taken us that far except God alone.

The commitment of Gombe State Government is 100 per cent. And I want to use this opportunity to thank the Executive Governor of Gombe State, Dr. Muhammad Danjuma Goje, for doing what nobody has ever done in Nigerian football as far as I am concerned.

For somebody to give as much as N250, 000.00 as bonus per player for a win in any game is not a mean feat and truly speaking, in the annals of Nigerian football nobody has done so.

He is the only person. He is always there to assist us, except that we had some unscrupulous persons who came in somewhere along the line and our problems truly were not getting to him and he did not know especially during our continental campaign. He was not conversant with the problems we were facing on the continent. I say this in the most articulate language because if these problems were made known to him properly, I know who he is, he would have come out to help us go beyond where we crashed out (second round)on the continent.

Gombe State Government is solely behind Gombe United. And I want to say that it will be more tasking during the forthcoming season. We ended up in the second position in the FA Cup last season. Now we are expected to pick the first position in either the Premier League or the FA Cup in the forthcoming season. We are once again going into the continent. We are expected to win. We are going into the Nigerian league again, we are expected to win. And we are going into the FA Cup. Those were the three major competitions we took part in last season and we are going into them again this season. So I am appealing to the government to help us as early as possible because we need to reinforce the team in certain areas. There is one thing we must do to put the team on a sound footing.

The former FA chairman, John Buba Kumangar, is a wonderful person. He had a wonderful way of running this club. 'Am not saying nobody will be able to step into his shoes. But frankly speaking, it will be difficult to get his replacement. However, the die is already cast. Whosoever replaces him is expected to follow his footsteps because he has achieved much and I don't think the people of this state will accept anything below what he has left behind as a legacy for the team.

I must be mild here. As long as the appointment is the exclusive preserve of the government, it is incumbent on it to do so according to its volition.