NPFL: Akwa United appoints Ime Uko as Acting Technical Adviser

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Akwa United team psychologist, Ime Uko has been painted the Technical Adviser of the team on acting capacity.

This is coming after coach Muhammed Babaganaru resigned his appointment from the team.

A 1-1 draw with Bendel Insurance in Matchday 16 of the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season on Monday saw the coach dropping his resignation letter.

Chairman of Akwa United, Elder Paul Bassey confirmed the appointment of the new coach while praising the former manager.

“At the moment, the team’s psychologist Coach Ime Uko will act as the Technical Adviser while the assistant coaches led by coach Umar Abdullahi are in charge of the team until a substantive head coach is named,”

In his reaction after accepting the coach’s resignation Bassey said “In football tradition around the world, when results are not forthcoming it’s the coaches that pay for the poor run of form irrespective of their output, past antecedents. Babaganaru is a good coach who has worked with many clubs in this country and won trophies but it didn’t just work out for him as planned this season.

“He joined us last season and contributed immensely helping us to beat the drop, we can’t forget that and we commend him. I can say that our results and position on the log this season is not a true reflection of the work he has done with the team.

“Akwa United is a team with rich history and pedigree, so struggling in the relegation zone is unacceptable and we cannot continue in that direction.

“Coach Muhammed Babaganaru is a core professional, we will miss him. His resignation may not be the only solution to our problem, we are not happy with the performance of our players and we have started planning to strengthen the team when the mid-season transfer window opens in January.

“Babaganaru knows how it works and he has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it in good faith while wishing him well in all his future endeavours.

“ A gentleman to the core, hardworking, humble and a team player. It was a pleasure working with him”

The Promise Keepers occupy the 19th position on the NPFL log with 16 points after 16 games.

The team has won three of their last 10 league games with two draws and five losses.