By: Chinedum Ohanusi
Strong facts have emerged concerning the veracity of the “purported” meeting of the outgoing Board of the Nigeria Basketball Foundation (NBBF), headed by Engr. Musa Ahmadu Kida.
According to Chairman of the Taraba State Basketball Association, Danjuma Goyo; no such board meeting has been legitimately convened in nearly two years; and the communique touted on various social and traditional platforms, as being the outcome of a meeting of the board was basically cooked-up, deceptive, and intended to mislead stakeholders of the slam and dunk game.
According to Goyo, the NBBF erred be claiming that the meeting was legitimately convened, just because it had representatives of the zones in attendance.
According to him, there ought to have been a meeting of stakeholders at the zonal level, where states will have their say, and aggregate their opinion, on issues on the agenda of the NBBF meeting, for onward transmission, but that was not done.
“If others were reached, I as Chairman of Taraba State Basketball Association was not consulted; meaning we had no voice at the kangaroo board meeting, when there are lots of unresolved issues, hampering the growth of the sport, to be addressed”, he noted.
According to him, it amounted to insulting the sensibility of Nigerians, for the NBBF to assume the place of the proverbial lizard, who would always praise itself for being unscathed after each fall from the iroko tree; when the game is actually suffering a slide in fortune”.
He wondered how the sharply divided NBBF board could have come to a conclusion that it has done very well, or make promises of a better 2025 season; when the domestic component of the country’s basketball has been abandoned for years, and was rarely given the attention it deserves, by the outgoing board, in the past eight years.
“Before making such frivolous claims, we ought to have first heard from all stakeholders; players (active and retired), coaches, referees, match commissioners, and other officials; on the state of the game, and how the board performed”, he posited.
Goyo further cautioned against the desperation of some stakeholders who harbours what he called inordinate ambition to win the upcoming elections at all cost; when very little, or nothing at all has been done to unite the NBBF family, by carrying along aggrieved parties, and producing a more acceptable constitution, and guidelines for future elections, as ordered by former Sports Minister, Chief Sunday Dare.
Reviewing the NBBF constitution, he insisted should have been the most important step forward, and for a progressive turnaround in the fortunes of Nigerian basketball; but the outgoing board, turned a blind eye to it, and bungled the process.
