Bendel Insurance beat Niger Tornadoes 2-1 on 8 November 2026, and the Minna side now sit on 16 points from 12 matches, level with Plateau United in a crowded middle of the table, with four wins, four draws, four defeats and ten goals each way.

Perfectly balanced, and going nowhere.

What 12 results say about home and away form

Niger Tornadoes have not lost at home. Three wins and three draws from six matches bring 12 points. Away is another story. One win, one draw, four defeats, 4 points, with 4 goals scored and 7 conceded.

Less dramatic than it looks. Across the 20 clubs the average is 11.85 points at home and 3.6 away, so the Tornadoes sit within half a point of the norm on both counts, and only 11 of the 116 matches played so far have gone to the visitors. One of them was the 1-0 at Abia Warriors on 25 October 2026.

Goals are the problem. Ten in 12 matches is 0.83 a game, and only Inter Lagos (6) and Warri Wolves (8) have scored fewer. Five games ended without a Tornadoes goal. The defence is sturdier, since only Rivers United (5) and Warri Wolves (9) have let in fewer than ten, and it has kept five clean sheets.

Over the last five, oldest first, the form reads draw, win, win, draw, defeat. Eight points from 15. Enugu Rangers lead on 24 points from 11 matches, so the gap is eight, with a game in hand for them. Our profile of Enugu Rangers covers the leaders.

Coach, squad and a summer rebuild

New coach, new squad.

Kabiru Dogo took charge on 1 July 2026 on a three-year contract, after spells at ABS FC, Nasarawa United, Kwara United and Wikki Tourists, among others. The league data feed still names Majin Mohammed, which is out of date. No change since has been reported. Three years to do the job.

Dogo did not hide the scale of the job in Minna in July. “We have to build almost from scratch, and that is a huge responsibility,” Dogo said.

The squad list has 34 players. There are 13 attackers, 11 defenders, 4 goalkeepers and only 6 midfielders. Six were born in 2005 or later, the youngest in 2007. In came Liberian goalkeeper Derrick Julu, 24, from Ikorodu City on 27 July 2026, on a deal to 30 June 2028. Out went midfielder Shehu Abdulrasheed Dabai, to Rivers United on a three-year contract.

Players' salary, and what is actually public

No individual Niger Tornadoes salary has been published, and we will not guess one.

We found no report of wage arrears at the club this season either, so the one figure on record covers the whole league. Blueprint reported on 25 June 2026 that the National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Federation had approved a minimum of ₦2 million a month for registered NPFL players from 2026/27, although Premium Times, reporting Shehu Dikko's announcement of 23 June, called it a proposal. No penalty for clubs that fall short has been published. Our guide to the highest paid NPFL coach covers the wider reforms, while the highest paid players in the Nigerian league shows where the top of the market sits, well above any floor.

The sums are easy. Pay all 34 players on our sheet exactly the floor and the bill is ₦816 million a year. Adams Mouktar Mohammed, chairman of the FCT Football Association, put the league-wide cost above ₦14 billion on 30-man squads.

The club belongs to the Niger State Government. The money would come from the state purse. Governor Mohammed Bago named Abubakar Kuso chairman of the management committee on 27 June 2026. Nobody has said in public whether the floor is met in Minna.

The stadium, the ban and the club's history

Twelve of the 16 points came at home. Goals are scarce.

The Tornadoes' home is the Bako Kontagora Stadium in Minna, capacity about 5,000. The NPFL barred it in a letter dated 30 January 2026, saying it no longer met the new broadcast standards. Danjuma Masu, chairman of the Niger State Sports Commission, said the issue was camera angles. “Playing politics with sports is unacceptable and should be discouraged,” he said.

Home matches had to leave Minna. With renovation work under way since the summer, they came back: the 2-1 win over Enyimba on 30 August 2026 was played back there, and a fixture listing puts the goalless draw with Barau on 30 October at the same ground. The league data feed shows the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja, which match reports contradict. See also our NPFL clubs and stadiums guide.

The club dates from 1977.

The league data feed says 1970, but the club website and two reference pages agree on 1977. It went down in 2012, came back in 2015 through the Nigeria National League, and lost the 2017 FA Cup final to Akwa United on penalties. Its best continental run was a quarter-final in the 2001 CAF Cup Winners' Cup.

This article was most recently revised and updated 58 seconds ago