Exclusive: Plans To Manipulate NBBF Elections Unveiled

Exclusive: Plans To Manipulate NBBF Elections Unveiled By Niyi Busari Less than 24 hours after the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development convened a virtual emergency meeting with the leadership of the two factions in the Nigeria Basketball Federation to settle the feud that has dragged the development of the game backward in the last four years, the Chairman Caretaker Committee of the NBBF, Musa Kida has concluded plans to have a separate election conducted in an hotel in Abuja. This was revealed in a letter titled "NBBF Extra Ordinary Congress" signed by the Secretary General of federation, Afolabi-Oluwayemi Olabisi, dated September 21 and sent to all the 36 state Basketball Chairmen. The letter reads, "I am directed by the Chairman Caretaker Committee to invite you to the Extra Ordinary Congress of the Nigeria Basketball Federation which is scheduled to hold as follows: Date 2nd October, 2021 at Hotel De Bentley Utako, Abuja at 10:00 am." "Kida sent out letters to all the 36 state Chairmen to have a secret election like he did in 2017. This is a way to manipulate election to further put the game in reverse gear in the next four years. It showed that he is not ready to see Basketball election conducted in a free and fair manner." A source who received the letter and pleaded anonymity told BSN Sports. He added, "How can he (Kida) conclude plan to have an election in an Hotel without the knowledge of NOC and Ministry of Sports as well as other stakeholders who want to contest for the same position? "This is against the plans of the Nigeria Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports who on Monday called both factions together to find a lasting solution to the problems ahead of the election." In a statement from the Ministry of Sports, a date has been set aside for both factions to be represented by ten members (from their faction) including Tijjani Umar and Musa Kida. The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and top officials of the Ministry have been penciled down to oversee the meeting. In 2017, Kida held the NBBF election that saw him emerged president at an hotel in zone 5, Abuja. The Minister of Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare on Tuesday, May 4 inaugurated the NBBF and 29 other National Sports Federations Caretaker Committee to enable smooth transmission of power from old Boards to the new ones. According to the Minister, the dissolution became necessary because of the expiration of their tenures. BSN Sports checks showed that the Caretaker Committee is alien to the NBBF Constitution. Having accepted to become the Chairman Caretaker Committee of the NBBF, Kida then lacked the power to call for the Congress. Ordinarily, the Board of the NBBF is in the position to call for the Elective Congress but the Board has been dissolved on May 4 by the Ministry of Youth as Sports. "Being Chairman, Caretaker Committee, means that Kida had agreed to use the Election Guidelines of the Federal Ministry of youth and sports for the elections. And if that is the case, he lacked the power to call a Congress because he should have resigned by now. But he said that he has not resigned because he is going to use the controversial Constitution for the election. This means that we have not learnt any lesson from the court problem basketball has faced in the last four years." The source said. Meanwhile, the zonal elections are scheduled to hold on Wednesday September 22. But none of the Caretaker Committee have resigned from their positions. One of the contemptuous issue in the Constitution is that the President and Vice president of the NBBF need only two State Chairmen to nominate them as against winning the ticket from their constituencies to be able to re-contest their positions. When contacted for response, Engineer Musa Kida failed to respond to questions sent to him to air his side.