OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI - NIGERIAN BASKETBALL

Our attention has been drawn to the recent publication on open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the Nigeria Basketball Federation crisis.

Firstly, we sincerely thank Mr. President for his bold decision to recluse Nigeria from International Basketball Competitions for two years. Though unpleasant, it is necessary.

We also will like to respectfully highlight some facts on the lingering crisis in the Nigeria Basketball Federation, for Mr. President to note: 

1. Twenty two years of tussle and disagreements in the Basketball Family has all been about leadership and ego and not about developing the game. Our investigations revealed that Chief Jim Nwobodo intervened in 1997 after the 1st democratic election in Sports Federations; Omerua and Ikazabo did in 1999 and Rtd. Col. Musa Mohammed in 2004. All of them threatened drastic measures of dissolution and establishment of Interim Committee for the Sport. They never achieved except now.

2. The last five years have equally witnessed an unending Basketball leadership crises with 3 different groups currently in contention.

3. This circle of disruptive NBBF elections began in 2017 with 2 factions and presidents (Umar and Kida), and the climax in 2022 following the emergence of a 3rd faction with Igoche Mark as President.

4. The court suspension of the National Basketball League for 3 years plus, was because of this leadership disagreements. Youthful local talents have been wasting away for years because of the dysfunctional league.

5. National team Players, both Male and Female are entirely drawn from overseas including their Coaches who are all foreigners. At a time there were 10 foreign Coaches attached to our Male team. Harvesting only Nigerian professional Players overseas is not Basketball development. It must go hand in hand with grassroots and home based Players.

6. The unresolved boardroom crisis currently has degenerated into the polarization of National team Players (both Male and Female), and who have expressed their unwillingness to compete for Nigeria under this ugly scenario.

7. Multiple meetings aimed at resolving the crises have yielded no positive results.

8. The Ministry and the Federal Government have been severally misrepresented many times to FIBA and the public by elements from the Kida faction who have used the well-known blackmail tool of  Interference to tie Government, and make FIBA call Government a third party. By this, Nigeria's sovereignty is being challenged and trampled upon by the NBBF gladiators who now want Government to lift the ban.

9. Equally well known is that FIBA completely ignored Government’s invitation to visit Nigeria to look into the Basketball crises. The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) was equally snubbed.

10. Also known, is that the Ministry with the knowledge of FIBA went ahead to set up the Basketball Reconciliation Committee with membership drawn from all disputing parties. The Ministry concurred to the salient recommendations of the Committee. Notwithstanding, the crisis continued.

11. Our findings also have shown that there is no NBBF money lodged in the CBN and that the only money in the NBBF account with the CBN is the “Adopt-an-Athlete” funds to the tune of US$230k, to support the 24 Basketball Players that represented the Country at the Olympics. This money has severally been confirmed, was raised by the Ministry and it was domiciled in the NBBF Domiciliary account until disbursement, and that the female Players who have submitted their bank account details have since been paid US$9,500 each last year, and pending is the male Players who are yet to submit their account details for payment.

12. It is also confirmed that there is documentary evidence that this money was never diverted, as the balance to date remains in the NBBF account with CBN until disbursement. 

13. We are aware that from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games participation, all athletes have been fully paid their allowances, return flight tickets (where applicable), winning bonuses, as well as their enhanced training grants (increased from 4,500 dollars to 6,000 dollars by the Federal Government), including the Male and Female Basketball Players.

14. It is also known, that approval has been received for the balance of outstanding allowances, with the release of the fund being awaited while outstanding claims are being verified by both the Ministries of Finance and Youth and Sports Development.

15. We note that the 2019 NBBF Constitution by Kida group remains a hot bone of contention by many segments of Basketball Stakeholders and remains at the heart of the NBBF unending leadership crisis. That same Constitution is not only alien to the Nigeria Sports culture, but is incongruous with the Constitution of other 37 National Sports Federations, and jettisons the Code of Governance of the Sports Ministry.

16. Equally central to the crises is the fact that Kida was the architect of the 2019 Constitution in which he had vested interest to return as President, and went on to ensure that sections of the so-called Constitution permitted him and the Vice President to return to office without a constituency with only a voice vote of 2 persons at an Elective Congress. The same Constitution also disqualifies persons who are not resident in Nigeria for 4 consecutive years from being on the board. To a discerning mind, this obviously is targeted at creating a cult group, by eliminating some key Stakeholders that in our opinion are perhaps the most valuable resources the Country has. Obviously, this closes the door for the cream of our top athletes and managers who have retired and currently are key to the development of the game in the US and elsewhere, at a time that the FGN has set up a Diaspora Commission to enhance backward linkages not only in ideas but resources for the development of the Country. The moral question in this illegality is obvious.

17. Indeed, efforts to build a national Basketball team around foreign Players and the Afrobasket victories can only be useful to the Country if carefully conceived with backward integration, to have impact on the growth of Basketball in the Country and development of the economy. 

18. We acknowledge the enormous efforts of past Presidents of the Federation particularly in recent times, HRH U.K Umar and HRM The Gbong Gwom Jos, Elder Buba Gyang for their tireless efforts during their tenure at putting Basketball on a growth trajectory, that has gradually been eroded by ego parading and self-serving so-called administrators. Between these two past Presidents, they have established age group tournaments that saw Nigeria dominate African Junior Championships, win Olympic and World Cup tickets, and established highly competitive local leagues for Men and Women, from where many home grown athletes were drafted to elite leagues worldwide and colleges in the US.

19. This advertorial therefore seeks to put the records straight, and in addition by asking that the FGN follow the dissolution of the board, with a ban on the key actors holding the game by the jugular over the last many years. We wish to re-affirm that Basketball is the goose that can lay the golden egg for our teeming youths, but can also with clinical and well thought out reform, provide the template for other Sports to follow so that Nigerian Youths can prosper.

Signed:

Muhammad Sulaiman (aka Pro Marquette), Ardent Tax Payer

for: Concerned Basketball Stakeholders (CBS), Nigeria