NBBF Constitution Violates Nigerian Law, Players’ Rights - Group

NBBF Constitution Violates Nigerian Law, Players’ Rights - Group

By Our Reporter

Some of the pitfalls or ‘booby traps’ in the 2019 Constitution of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) that have led to the lingering leadership crises have been identified.

A group called Concerned Basketball Stakeholders Nigeria (CBS), through their spokesperson, Muhammad Sulaiman, revealed that the nonchalance with which the present leadership of the NBBF have handled objections raised on some controversial clauses in the 2019 Constitution have played significant roles in further polarising the already divided basketball family in the country.

Sulaiman said, “Many of us raised objections to some clauses in that NBBF document when it was drafted in 2019 but no one paid us any attention. If those issues had been addressed we won’t be having the crises that has surfaced now.

“One of the major clauses in that constitution is in Article 21.3.3 on Eligibility that states that anyone who has not resided in Nigeria for at least four consecutive years will not be eligible for any position on the NBBF board.

“Clearly, this was inserted into the document to bar some of those in the diaspora who may have some value to add to our game.

“To imagine that almost all our national players(men and women)are based abroad, how do you come out with such a requirement when some of them could be interested in being players’ representatives on the board in the future.

“What about those Nigerians abroad managing huge basketball franchises and desirous of giving back to the game administratively?”

Sulaiman also identified Article 3 of the 2019 NBBF Constitution that deals with the body’s jurisdiction as another grey area.

“Article 3 of that document says the NBBF will be subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and yet these people always describe the Federal Government, as represented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, as a third party.

“There is a sports governance code that Government has put in place. It is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

“The ideal thing to do would have been to recognise the supervisory role of the Ministry in the administration of the game in Nigeria and noted it unambiguously in the document and not shut Government out with that ‘third party or outsider’ tag,” Sulaiman added.

Culled from NewTelegraph