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EuroMatch NPFL: “I’m Looking at 19 to 20 Goals” — Joseph Atule Fires Barau FC To Winning Start
Joseph Atule has wasted no time turning his personal ambition into action, opening his EuroMatch NPFL campaign with a goal as Barau FC defeated Nasarawa United 3-1 at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano on Sunday.
The Barau FC winger had spoken before the season about challenging himself to reach 19 or 20 goals during the campaign. On Matchday One, he took the first step towards that target by scoring Barau’s opening goal and the club’s first of the new EuroMatch NPFL season.
Atule struck in the 15th minute, giving Barau FC an early advantage and immediately putting his name among the first individual performers to watch in the new campaign. Nasarawa United responded through Abubakar Abdullahi, but Barau eventually pulled away late, with Al-Amin Umar scoring in the 78th minute before Sugau Aliyu completed the 3-1 victory four minutes later.
For Atule, however, the importance of the goal goes beyond the scoreline.
It is the first piece of evidence that his ambitious personal target is not merely talk.
The former Enyimba forward contributed eight goals and five assists for Barau FC last season as the Kano club finished eighth in their first NPFL campaign. He now wants considerably more from himself this time around.
“I have sat and thought about it. I’ve also challenged myself,” Atule said before the season. “If I am not going to score 20 goals, it should be a lot of goals.”
His opening-day goal suggests that the challenge has already begun.
There was also a difficult moment for Atule during the match. According to one match report, the winger saw a penalty saved in the second half, but rather than allowing the miss to affect his performance, Barau continued pushing forward and eventually secured a convincing victory.
That response may be just as significant as the goal itself.
A striker’s season is rarely defined by every chance converted. It is often defined by how quickly a player responds when something goes wrong.
Atule responded by remaining involved as Barau continued to press, eventually producing a performance that helped the newly established Kano side begin the season with maximum points.
The conditions in Kano also provided their own challenge. Weather records for August 30 indicate temperatures around 31–33°C, with forecasts also pointing to isolated thunderstorms and a possibility of rain in the area.
But neither the heat nor the pressure of an opening-day fixture stopped Atule from making his mark.
And that is exactly the type of individual story the EuroMatch NPFL needs.
A player with a target.
A player with something to prove.
A player who has already put one goal on the board.
For Barau FC, the bigger objective is collective: to build on their impressive opening victory and establish themselves as a serious force in the league.
For Atule, the challenge is more personal.
Nineteen to 20 goals is the target. One is already in the bag.
The EuroMatch NPFL has only just begun, but *Joseph Atule has already given the league another player to watch.*
Arise Television’s Morning Show anchor, Rufai Oseni, has criticised presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Mr Peter Obi, over his alleged lack of visibility and policy inconsistencies ahead of the 2027 general election.
Oseni also raised concerns over reported disagreements between Obi’s political movement, the Obidient Movement, and the NDC, questioning whether the party was adequately addressing the expectations of its supporters.
He made the remarks on Friday while reacting to comments by a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain, Chief Don Ulasi, on the opposition’s preparedness for the 2027 presidential election.
Ulasi had described Obi as the only serious opposition figure capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu, citing the government’s shortcomings in areas such as inflation and rising food prices.
However, the PDP chieftain expressed doubts about the opposition’s ability to capitalise on public dissatisfaction, saying he had not seen sufficient grassroots mobilisation or town hall meetings by the NDC leadership.
Responding, Oseni questioned Obi’s political organisation and the reported disagreements between his camp and the NDC.
He said, “And that goes back to the problem that even this Peter Obi you are talking about. Are you really sure because he’s also having infighting with his NDC political party.
“As we speak today, there are loggerheads between OK movement and NDC, which there’s a lot of disagreement, which a lot of people even say they don’t even trust the high ups there in the NDC as regards if they are even truly after their hopes and aspiration.”
The broadcaster also faulted Obi over his position on petrol subsidy, arguing that the former Anambra State governor had failed to maintain a consistent stance on the policy.
“today, where is his manifesto? He was nowhere, he was found nowhere in the subsidy debate. He said something, then he flip flop on the subsidy.
“At first, he said, ‘Oh, I will keep subsidy. Now he’s saying he will remove subsidy again. But he said he will correct the corruption in there,” Oseni said.
He further argued that Obi had lost some of the supporters who backed him during the 2023 presidential election, attributing the development partly to what he described as inconsistency in his positions.
“So a lot of people have found him flip-flopping, and he has also lost a lot of people from the last election cycle that supported him,” he added.
DAILY POST reports that Obi’s political platform and the cohesion of opposition parties are likely to remain key issues as political actors position themselves ahead of the 2027 general election.
In an ambitious move designed to bypass domestic facility deficits, the Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria is launching a high-performance framework centered on extended overseas residency camps and the establishment of a regional center of excellence.
Rather than relying solely on short-term training workshops, national sports administrators are implementing a structural overhaul aimed at transforming Nigerian athletes into genuine medal contenders ahead of the 2027 African Games in Egypt and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Following recent bilateral agreements inked at the World Congress in Bangkok, top national team gymnasts will participate in intensive, six-month international immersion programs hosted in specialised facilities across Turkey, China, Japan, and Azerbaijan.
Under this comprehensive arrangement, host nations will provide elite coaching, specialised equipment, full accommodation, and nutritional support. This prolonged exposure to world-class sports science and high-altitude conditioning is specifically tailored to refine routine difficulty scores and execution precision, areas where African gymnasts have historically lagged behind international powerhouses.
Simultaneously, the federation is capitalizing on its newly expanded international partnerships to establish a modern regional hub in Nigeria.
Designed to serve West and Central Africa, the proposed center will feature state-of-the-art apparatuses provided through foreign equipment-sharing grants. The facility will host joint continental training camps and offer localized accreditation programs for coaches and judges across various disciplines, including artistic, rhythmic, aerobics, and parkour gymnastics.
By pairing multi-month elite training abroad with long-term infrastructure investment at home, Nigeria is positioning itself to shift from a continental participant into an influential gymnastics powerhouse over the next decade. If successfully sustained, this two-pronged blueprint could redefine how emerging nations nurture Olympic-caliber athletic talent outside traditional sports.
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