Players call for cancellation of January 31 NBBF election
Ugboaja and Gumut claimed to be speaking on behalf of basketball players at home and abroad
The immediate past players representative on the board of NBBF Ejike Ugboaja and newly elected players representative Stanley Gumut have called on the Sports Minister Sunday Dare and other stakeholders to cancel the NBBF election slated for January 31, 2022, until the crisis affecting the federation is resolved.
“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 NBBF be looked critically into. “
They threatened to mobilize relevant stakeholders and supporters and stage a mega protest to press home their demands.
The statement also said Nigerian basketball players home and abroad will not play if these issues are not resolved. They said the option of litigation as an acceptable way to seek redress is equally being considered.
Ugboaja and Gumut who claimed to be speaking on behalf of basketball players at home and abroad said they have observed with indignation and dismay, the inglorious events, particularly the leadership crisis that has trailed basketball development in Nigeria and the attendant shame these issues have plunged us in, especially at the international scene.
Said the duo “we have remained too ambivalent about these brewing issues and we are afraid that basketball in Nigeria may be heading for the rocks in no distant time if the situation at hand is not salvaged appropriately.”
They could not understand why the report of the reconciliation committee set by the Sports Minister to reach out to the various factions with the view of seeking and achieving an amicable resolution is not in the public domain.
They claimed players who are the main stakeholders of this game “have not been consulted, contacted or no meeting has been held with the reconciliation committee. There is no publication of a report from the reconciliation committee on their efforts, findings and prescriptions. The implication being that, the crisis that led to the formation of the committee is far from being resolved.”
They wonder why the election is being called for January 31, 2022, when, “by the conventional practice known to us, a notice of election is usually given 21 days to the election date and electoral guidelines are advanced to bring stakeholders to speed as to the election itinerary. We woke to news of elections holding on the 31st of January, 2022 in a correspondence that was issued and signed on the 17th of January, 2022. Up till date, we are yet to receive the electoral guidelines or the statute that will be used to conduct the election. “Said Ugboaja and Gumut.
They said continued ”to our disbelief and total dismay, Musa Kida is still being referred to in official correspondences of the Ministry as the President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation long after his official tenure has elapsed his Caretaker appointment dissolved by you. We find this disturbing and totally unacceptable as it infringes on our sensibility and the legitimacy of the dissolution of the Caretaker Committee which you did. “
