The Nigerian Basketball Federation has again reiterated that its 2019 constitution will be followed to the letter as elections into the federation draws closer.
The elections according to the Caretaker Chairman of the NBBF, Engr Musa Kida will be done in line with the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) with the supervision from the Federal Ministry of Sports and Nigeria Olympics Committee.
This was in response to a purported statement by a group- Nigeria Basketball Vanguard alien to the constitution threatening to boycott the elections if the approved constitution is used.
Kida described the ploy as a cheap scheme to distract the people with unnecessary controversies while plunging basketball into another fresh round of crisis.
“This funny entity is not known to anybody nor is it recognized by the NBBF constitution as ratified by the 2019 Congress held in Abuja. The constitution as ratified by FIBA and domiciled with NOC or FMYSD accorded recognition to Chairmen of the State Associations, Representatives of Coaches, Referees, Players Associations, NAPHER/SD, NAWIS and All Members from the geographical zones (Zonal Reps) alongside the President and Vice President.”
The federation restated that the sanctity of its constitution where all its legitimacies are derived must be protected at all cost as the election into board draws near.
These individuals coming together should tell us who they represent. Is Ajibarede Bello representing Coaches or Gbade Olatona representing the players association. All these individuals should tell Nigerians which body they are representing as enshrined in the constitution.”
“So, Nigeria Basketball Vanguard should tell Nigerians where they derive their legitimacy to challenge the electoral process. I think these people with ulterior motives are scared of their own shadows.”
He therefore encouraged interested candidates and credible stakeholders interested in vying for any elective post to go ahead with their plans assuring that the NBBF constitution will protect all and sundry to ensure a smooth electoral process and post-election transition.
Meanwhile, plans are in the pipeline to call an Extraordinary Congress to ratify Electoral timeline as well as composition of the Electoral and Appeals Committees.