Basketball ban: Like south-south, north-east vows to boycott FG-organised tournaments

Following the ongoing crisis in Nigeria basketball resulting from the sports ministry’s constitution of an interim management committee for the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), stakeholders in the north-east zone have vowed to boycott activities of the ministry in protest.

The north-east basketball stakeholders issued their resolution in a statement on Thursday — shortly after their south-south counterparts opted out of tournaments organised by the federal government.

In the statement, Abba A. Kaka, north east zonal representative of NBBF and Borno State Basketball Association chairman, said the resolution taken by the north-east basketball stakeholders is in reaction to the sports ministry’s decision to withdraw Nigeria from international competitions involving the sport.

Kaka also wondered why Nigeria would withdraw from “the only sport that brought fame and glory to the country in the last four years”.

“How can Nigeria pull out from the only sport that brought fame and glory to the country in the last four years when both male and female teams qualified for the World Cup in unprecedented fashion? We categorically condemn in the strongest term the ill-informed decision by the ministry and we are assuring that we will not relent until the decision is reversed,” the statement said.

According to the statement, other zones in Nigeria have also called for a boycott of the ministry’s activities and the north-east would not be left behind.

“We are watching developments with keen interest and would continue to do what is required of us in the quest to protect the interest of basketball in Nigeria,” the statement added.

The development comes at about the same time when the FIBA replaced Nigeria with Mali for the 2022 World Cup.

Meanwhile, the NBBF had denounced the constitution of the interim management committee, saying it is in contravention of the legal board that was duly elected in January.

“The idea of an interim management committee is alien to the NBBF statutes as approved by the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, the NOC and FIBA under which affairs of the NBBF are governed, as it further violates FIBA statutes and regulations,” read a statement issued last week.