Rise To Prominence
Enyimba's luck began to change in 1999 when Orji Uzor Kalu was elected Governor of Abia State in the first democratic elections held in the country after several years of military rule. Kalu then proceeded to ensure generous funding for the local team and appointed Felix Anyansi Agwu as the new chairman of the club, who in turn appointed Godwin Koko Uwa as the club's first coach in the new era.
The appointment soon returned results, with Uwa leading Enyimba to their first Nigerian championship title in the 2001 season, as well as winning the Nigerian Super Cup in October 2001 by beating Dolphins FC 2–0 in Maiduguri. Their first silverware marked the beginning of a period of Enyimba's dominance in Nigerian football.
The People's Elephant experienced international football for the first time in August 2001, when they were invited to play Internazionale at San Siro in a charity friendly which marked the return of Ronaldo after a 21-month injury layoff and saw Enyimba thrashed 7–0 with four goals from Christian Vieri.
They also had their first appearance in a continental competition in the 2002 CAF Champions League. Due to the lack of a good playing ground at their base in Aba, the club played their home matches in Calabar, a neighbouring town and the capital of the Cross River State. After winning the first round tie against Étoile Filante Ouagadougou 5–3 on aggregate, they were knocked out in the second round by the 1998 Champions ASEC Mimosas of Côte d'Ivoire.
The defeat proved to be another turning point in the history of the club as it was the main cause for the club's rebuilding of what used to be a substandard playing pitch into the Enyimba International Stadium, a 15,000 capacity stadium equipped with floodlights, electronic scoreboard and covered seats, which was later inspected by the CAF president Issa Hayatou and was officially approved for that year's CAF Champions League matches.
The club went on to win their second successive Nigerian title in 2002, and then became the first Nigerian club to win the continent's premier international club competition in the 2003 CAF Champions League by beating Ismaily of Egypt 2–1 on aggregate, under coach Kadiri Ikhana. This was also the first time since 1988 that a Nigerian club had reached the final of the competition. Several key players from Enyimba's 2003 continental success have since gone on to play for Nigeria, including Vincent Enyeama, Muri Ogunbiyi, Obinna Nwaneri and Onyekachi Okonkwo.
Enyimba then successfully defended their title as won their second consecutive African Champions League title in 2004, beating Tunisia's Étoile du Sahel in the finals. After finishing runners-up in the national championship in 2004 (behind Dolphins FC), Enyimba won the Double in 2005, winning their fourth Nigerian championship and their first Nigerian Cup.
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