Basketball stakeholders in Nigeria have called on a former factional president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Musa Kida, to stop parading himself as the head of the federation.
Kida was made a caretaker chairman after the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development dissolved the NBBF board having completed its tenure.
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However, with the elections coming, the stakeholders are saying Kida, who is contesting for the position of the president, should leave the stage for the electoral committee to do its job.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday on behalf of the group, the players’ representative in the NBBF board, Stanley Gumut, said: “Our prayer is that the former caretaker committee’s chairman, Musa Kida, will stop parading himself as the caretaker chairman so as to allow for fair play.
“This is very important because if these things continue to linger, that means we have not headed anywhere yet.”
He called on the government to do the needful, stressing that; “they were the one who made him [Kida] a caretaker committee chairman.
“We, basketball players, are stakeholders and we will not sit back and fold our hands,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gumut commended the federal government for suspending the NBBF’s electoral congress earlier scheduled to hold on 30th October 2021 in Edo State.
He said the government’s decision had helped to prevent a major crisis and the breakdown of law and order in Benin.
However, a statement signed by Kida himself on Monday night challenged the power of the federal government to suspend the electoral congress.
While claiming the statement from the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development was not properly signed, he insisted that the election would go ahead.
The NBBF Secretary- General, Afolabi-Oluwayemi Olabisi, in a signed circular on Monday night to all state chairmen of the basketball association and other stakeholders, conveyed the directive of the Permanent Secretary for the election to be suspended.
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