The factional President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Musa Kida, has extended the olive branch to all stakeholders to support his plans to start a domestic programme for the growth of the game.
Kida, according to the NBBF media, stated this in his first official response following the congratulatory message from the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) after the January 31 election in Benin City.
He said so much time had been wasted on political gimmicks that have adversely affected domestic basketball.
“Our domestic players have been the worst hit amidst all these distractions because it has been difficult to even engage with sponsors to get needed funds to run the various leagues. Nigerian players deserve more from all of us and we must do better.”
“The national teams have been going for international competitions in their bid to qualify for the Afrobasket for men and the 2022 World Cup for women because the federation had on several occasions shifted grounds in the interest of Nigeria.”
The NBBF president described as unfortunate the current trend where people intentionally create artificial crises just to make the basketball atmosphere toxic.
“The Federal Government does not fund the domestic leagues, so it is our duty as a board to go out there in search of sponsors and partners. Sadly, getting partners has been extremely difficult because of the unnecessary bickering.”
He enjoined all stakeholders to join hands with the federation to create a domestic basketball system that will be all-inclusive.
“Not everybody can be on the NBBF board at the same time. We need to support those there right now so that when it is your turn, you will have an existing structure to contribute your quota,” Kida concluded.
THE FACTIONAL LEADERSHIP
It will be recalled the crises rocking the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) took a bigger dimension in February as two presidents emerged from the elections held in Benin and Abuja.
NBBF has been engulfed in crisis following the decision to suspend the election of new executives by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development in 2021.
In Benin City, the Edo State capital, the elective Congress attended by representatives of FIBA, Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Kida was returned as the President unanimously polling 37 votes while outgoing Vice President, Babatunde Ogunade beat ex-international Olumide Oyedeji with 30 votes to Oyedeji’s seven votes to returned as the VP.
The Benin election was attended by 28 states out of 37 states present at the congress monitored by FIBA represented by Ahmed Elhariri (President of FIBA Zone 5 and member, FIBA Central Board) and Nigeria Olympic Committee’ represented by its second Vice President, Engr Ishaku Tikon.
In Abuja, Mark Igoche, the chairman of Mark Mentors Basketball Team, was elected and sworn-in in a congress held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, along with Osita Nwachukwu as Vice President.
Igoche, the North Central representative in the Abuja NBBF board, polled 11 votes to win the presidency in Abuja while Osita Nwachukwu, representing South East Zone also polled 11 votes to emerge as Vice President.
