Sports

Ministry of Sports Suspend Saturday’s NBBF Congress In Benin City

The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development on Monday announced that it has placed an indefinite suspension on the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Elective Congress scheduled for Saturday.

Following the Federation’s extraordinary congress held on October 9 in Abuja, the Musa Kida-led Caretaker Committee had approved October 30 for elections into the board, and Benin City was declared as the host city for the NBBF Elective Congress, while also adopting the proposed Electoral Committee to be chaired by Lanre Glover.

A statement by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Ismaila Abubakar, on Monday directed an indefinite suspension of the Congress.

“Having reviewed the crisis around the NBBF and in consideration of the several attempts by the supervising Ministry to resolve the lingering crisis and factionalisation in the basketball family, the FMYSD hereby directs an indefinite suspension of the NBBF Elective Congress.

“All concerned stakeholders are expected to take note and comply,” the statement said.

The decision became necessary to avert further deterioration of the leadership crisis and was geared towards finding a workable solution to the current disagreements within the Federation.

“The rancour-free development of basketball in Nigeria is of utmost importance,” the Ministry stated further.

It however noted that recent elections into the NBBF Board from the various constituencies, such as Zones, NAWIS, Military/Paramilitary, NAPHER.SD and others, stand.

“Those elected therefore remain Members-Elect,” it added.

The build-up to the polls had been rocked by crisis, with protests by players calling for the resignation of Kida.

No fewer than 100 Nigerian basketball players led by the newly-elected players’ representative, Stanley Gumut, on October 15 in Abuja staged a protest at the Unity Fountain.

The aggrieved players had voiced their resentment at what they termed the mishandling of basketball administration in the last four years.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.