The crisis rocking the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has continued to fester as a former member of the Engineer Musa Kida led board, Osita Nwachukwu, has insisted that the sports federation does not have a constitution.
Speaking to sportswriters on Tuesday in Abuja, Nwachukwu who emerged as NBBF Vice- president in Abuja on January 31 said the document being brandish as a constitution was never endorsed by the NBBF congress.
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“Let me state clearly here, the NBBF never had a constitution. What we have before was the Tijani Umar’s constitution that was never accepted. The claim that the NBBF congress endorsed a constitution on April 13, 2019 is false and a big lie.
“What happened on that said day was only a stakeholders meeting and I was part of it. Furthermore, if the NBBF had endorsed that constitution, the dissolution of the NBBF board in May 2021, would have been resisted by the whole basketball family including Kida himself.
“Having accepted the position of caretaker chairman, Engr. Musa Kida lacks the power to act based on what he called the constitution,” explained Nwachukwu.
The NBBF factional Vice-president substantiated that the January 31,2022 election in Abuja was the authentic one, stating that it was conducted in line with the ministry’s guidelines and instructions.
“Our election is the authentic one because we followed the ministry’s directives. Remember that we started with the Players’ Rep and Technical Rep elections conducted by the sports ministry and Kida was a participant.
“But when the ministry directed that elections should be held in Abuja, he opted out. Tell me, do you change the rules in the middle of the game?” he queried.