After making use of the Lafia Township Stadium as their adopted home ground for nearly two seasons, Lobi Stars of Makurdi will now play their remaining home matches in the ongoing Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium.
It will be recalled that Lobi Stars under the immediate past vice-chairman, Dominic Iorfa adopted the New Jos Township Stadium as their home ground from where they moved to Lafia at the start of the 2023/2024 season.
Lobi Stars homeground, Aper Aku Stadium is undergoing renovation after Monimichelle Sports Facilities Construction Company was contracted by Governor Hyacinth Alia in July 2024 to upgrade the facilities at the stadium.
According to the Media Director of Lobi Stars, Emmanuel Uja, the Chairman of the club, Dr. Phillip Nongu announced the choice of Tafawa Balewa Stadium after an inspection of the 11,000 capacity facility in Bauchi.
He said the Chairman's latest inspection of the stadium was to confirm the previous assessment carried out by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and make logistics arrangements for the use of the stadium in the interim.
Dr. Nongu was joined on the visit by notable football stakeholders in Bauchi including Patrick Pascal, Chairman of the Bauchi State Football Association.
The NFF had earlier inspected and approved the Tafawa Balewa Stadium for use by Lobi Stars pending the completion of ongoing renovations at their home ground.
Lobi Stars' first match at the iconic Tafawa Balewa Stadium will be their week 22 clash with Enyimba on Sunday, February 2.