Remo Stars coach Usman Abd’Allah has vowed his side will survive the NPFL drop, one final-day win over Bendel Insurance standing between the reigning champions and an embarrassing exit from the top flight.
Usman Abd’Allah has no intention of presiding over the relegation of the reigning NPFL champions. After steering Remo Stars to a 2-1 comeback win over Bayelsa United at Ikenne on Matchday 37, the technical adviser spoke with a conviction that few coaches dare to show when their team is sitting just a point clear of the drop zone.
“We can’t be written off. By the grace of God, we will go there, get the three points and escape relegation,” Abd’Allah told the club’s media after the Bayelsa win, a result that lifted Remo Stars out of the bottom three with a single round of fixtures to play.
The Sky Blue Stars now sit on 46 points alongside Warri Wolves, Enyimba, and Kun Khalifat, with Niger Tornadoes one point beneath them on 45. Every one of those clubs faces a nerve-shredding final day on May 24, and for Remo Stars, only a victory against Bendel Insurance will do.
How Remo Stars Clawed Their Way Back Against Bayelsa
The Matchday 37 result at Ikenne was exactly the kind of character-revealing performance Abd’Allah would have demanded. Bayelsa United arrived having already been drawn into their own survival fight, and they made the perfect start when Ofem Nneoyi put them ahead inside the opening five minutes.
Remo Stars responded with growing pressure and drew level just before half-time through Alex Oyowah, who rose to head home the equaliser. The winner came from veteran forward Victor Mbaoma, who converted in the 64th minute to send Ikenne into relief. The three points moved Remo Stars above the relegation zone while simultaneously confirming Bayelsa United’s drop back to the NNL.
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Abd’Allah Points To Consistent Goalscoring Record
The former Super Eagles assistant coach was careful to frame the win not just as a result but as proof of a pattern his team has established since he took charge of the struggling champions.
“In our last 11 matches since I took charge of the team, we have scored in each of them. Even in the games that we lost, we scored as well. My team can score anywhere, against any team,” Abd’Allah told the club’s media.
That record matters because Remo Stars cannot afford a draw against Bendel Insurance. The Benin City side, who have already secured their top-flight status, will carry lower stakes into the final day but will not simply roll over for a club that was dethroning them at the top of the league not so long ago.
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The Weight Of Being Remo Stars
This is not how a Remo Stars season is supposed to end. The club from Ikenne, Ogun State, won the NPFL title in the 2022-23 season and spent much of the years that followed as one of the most talked-about clubs in the country. Dropping into a relegation battle in the season immediately after defending their silverware is a development that has surprised even their most critical observers.
Abd’Allah acknowledged the difficulty of the task without dwelling on the disappointment of the club’s wider season. “It was what we expected, a difficult game against a team fighting against relegation. They scored first, and we equalised. Thank God we were able to score the winning goal and win the game,” he said of the Bayelsa fixture.
As reported by FootballInNigeria.com.ng, the NPFL’s final day on May 24 will feature simultaneous kickoffs across all venues, a format designed to prevent any advantage from knowing other results before a game ends.
What Remo Stars Need On The Final Day
The arithmetic is simple: win at Bendel Insurance and Remo Stars are safe regardless of what happens elsewhere. Anything less and the club’s fate could depend on results between Enyimba, Kun Khalifat, Warri Wolves, and Niger Tornadoes. With five clubs separated by just one point at the foot of the table, a single goal anywhere on May 24 could send any of them down.
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Abd’Allah’s message to those supporters was clear: Remo Stars have the goals in them, the belief in the camp, and the experience of a coach who has been in high-pressure Nigerian football environments before. Whether that is enough will be decided in Benin City on the season’s last afternoon.
📌 Did You Know?
- Remo Stars won the NPFL title in the 2022-23 season, making their current relegation battle one of the sharpest falls from grace in recent Nigerian football history.
- Victor Mbaoma, who scored the winning goal against Bayelsa United on Matchday 37, is one of the joint-leaders in the 2025-26 NPFL Golden Boot race, sharing the top spot on 11 league goals.
- Usman Abd’Allah previously served as an assistant coach to the Super Eagles, bringing a degree of international pedigree to a club that found itself in a relegation dog-fight midway through the season.
- Bayelsa United, who Remo Stars beat to move out of the bottom three, were confirmed relegated by that result, alongside Wikki Tourists who went down the same weekend after losing 3-2 to Rivers United.
- The NPFL has scheduled simultaneous kickoffs for all Matchday 38 fixtures on May 24, a measure designed to ensure no team benefits from knowing other results before their own game ends.
- Bendel Insurance, Remo Stars’ final-day opponents, have already secured their own top-flight safety for next season, meaning the Benin City side will carry no survival pressure into the game.
- Five clubs, Remo Stars, Enyimba, Kun Khalifat, Warri Wolves, and Niger Tornadoes, are separated by just one point in the bottom section of the table heading into the final day, setting up one of the most congested relegation fights in recent NPFL history.
