NBBF elections: Sports minister in dilemma as gladiators set for another showdown

Indications are strong that the crisis rocking the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) for over four years will not be going away anytime soon. As the date for elections into the Executive Committee of the NBBF approaches, gladiators are gathering ammunition for another showdown. Basketball in Nigeria has suffered with no league to show for it […]

Indications are strong that the crisis rocking the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) for over four years will not be going away anytime soon.

As the date for elections into the Executive Committee of the NBBF approaches, gladiators are gathering ammunition for another showdown.

Basketball in Nigeria has suffered with no league to show for it for the past three years. Many clubs have gone under while players roam the streets as a result of lack of activities.

The issues

In 2017, there were parallel elections into the board of the NBBF as the then incumbent, Tijani Umar, had irreconcilable differences with the then minister of sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung, who eventually backed Engineer Musa Kida to take over the leadership of the NBBF.

Many analysts believe the crisis in the federation was caused by the massive deal Tijani secured with Kwese months before the expiration of his tenure.

The government and Kida-led board allegedly made all efforts to take over the contract and have access to the money to no avail as Kwese insisted on dealing with only the Tijani-led board. Hence, the Kwese League held for two seasons before it eventually went under.

When the current Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, assumed office, he decided to maintain the status quo.

Though the national teams continued their upward movement in the game globally, the domestic teams continued to suffer as a result of the power tussle.

The world governing body of basketball, FIBA, got entangled. It eventually resolved to deal with the Kids-led faction on national team issues while dealing with the Tijani-led faction on local basketball issues.

2021 NBBF election

Ahead of the NBBF election in 2021, the Kida-led board got a new draft constitution approved by the federal government which the later announced would be used for the said election.

The Tijani-led faction who had a constitution in place in 2017 already, kicked against it and called for a review of the two constitutions by all the stakeholders of the game in Nigeria.

Flexing his muscles as a Permanent Secretary in the state House, Tijani was able to halt the election that was initially slated for October, 2021.

However, the ministry of sports, after dissolving all the federations’ board, decided to name Kida again as the Chairman of the caretaker committee of the NBBF, who in turn, used his new position to prevent any input or contributions from other stakeholders outside his group at the congress that was staged to address the identified loopholes in the draft constitution of the federation.

At the congress, October 30, 2021 was picked for the elective congress in Benin, Edo State.

The Tijani group kicked and the Minister was again forced to halt the process. He dissolved the caretaker committee chaired by Kida and formed a reconciliation committee to resolve the crisis once and for all but till date, the recommendations of the committee have not been made known.

But on January 17, based on directives from FIBA, the sports ministry wrote a letter addressed to Kida to inform him of a planned election to be held on January 31, 2022 in Abuja.

The memo said the elective congress would be held at the national Stadium in Abuja where elections into the boards of the other 29 federations were held.

 Kida’s U-turn

Kida’s group has since distanced itself from the planned election in Abuja. It insisted that the election would be held in Benin.

In a letter addressed to the secretary, the Federation said the Reconciliatory Committee, set up by the Sports Minister never recommended a change in venue, but only urged the ministry to earnestly resume the electoral process already started by the NBBF on October 9.

So, on January 24, the NBBF under Kida’s control released a guideline on its twitter page.

A statement quoted Kida as saying: “I have exercised the powers bestowed on me by the NBBF Congress to activate the Electoral Committee to complete their assignment of conducting the NBBF Elective Congress, which will be in line with the 2019 approved NBBF Constitution, and according to their guidelines”.

All interested candidates vying for the vacant posts of President, Vice President and Zonal Representatives into the North-central, North-East, North-West, South-East, South-South, and South-West zones were therefore directed to contact the electoral committee.

Players kick against proposed elections

Although it is not the decision of the Minister of sports, Sunday Dare, that the planned 2021 elections into the NBBF should be conducted based on the constitution midwifed by the Kida group, the minister has come under heavy bombardment by basketball players and other stakeholders believed to be loyal to the Tijani Umar faction.

They have accused the minister of betraying them. According to the aggrieved players, the minister had assured that the constitution which they believe is designed to favour Kida would be discarded. However, they are worried that sports ministry is suddenly powerless as Kida appears to be having his way with the ‘suspicious’ document.

Few days ago, the players, led by their NBBF representative-elect, Stanley Gumut, and the former representative on the board, Ejike Ugboaja, stormed the office of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, to submit a letter expressing their displeasure with the lingering NBBF crisis.

They threatened to storm the streets of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to attract the attention of the authorities if their demands for immediate resolution of the crisis was not met.

The letter, which was copied to all the top brass in the Buhari administration and the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) president, Engineer Habu Gumel partly reads: “We make bold to state without equivocation that, in the event of failure to give credence to our humble request which is in the overall interest of basketball and sports development in Nigeria, we shall: Mobilise relevant stakeholders and supporters and stage a MEGA protest to press home our demands.

 “The Nigerian basketball players home and abroad will not play if these issues are not resolved.

“We are also not oblivious of the alternative of litigation as an acceptable way to seek redress”.

As it is, the players are bent on stopping the election, especially the one proposed to be held in Benin City as they have continued to accuse the minister of sports of double standards.

In another letter to the minister, the group said “Sir, to our disbelief and total dismay, Mr. Musa Kida is still being referred to in official correspondences of the ministry, as the president of the NBBF long after his official tenure has elapsed and his caretaker appointment dissolved by you.

“The convention that was called to deliberate over the said constitution was flawed with irregularities ranging across intimidation and disenfranchisement of participation of relevant stakeholders.

“Sir, it is our submission and request that the election hurriedly slated for 31st January, 2022 be suspended immediately and the pending, unresolved issues that have triggered the crisis in the Nigerian Basketball Federation be looked into critically”.

FIBA’s dangling hammer

Meanwhile, as stated earlier, it is FIBA and not the Minister of sports that has fixed January 30, 2022 as date for the NBBF elective congress. The international body has also stated unequivocally that national member federations (NMF) must manage their affairs independently without the influence of third parties and ensure that their officials are elected or appointed under a democratic process in line with Article 9.7 of the FIBA’s General Statutes.

Therefore, FIBA has said it is monitoring the situation in the Nigeria Basketball Federation and would apply appropriate sanctions in case of any breach of the above stated article.