By Jude Opara, Abuja
The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has rubbished talka in certain quarters that the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) led by Engr. Musa Kida is scheming to elongate its tenure beyond its statutory provision and eroded the erroneous January 2026 expiration of tenure.
Comrade Sunday Adebayo, a stakeholder in the sport said following a parallel electoral process that created a leadership dispute against the duly elected Kida-led board, the National Sports Commission (NSC) undertook a review of the situation before formally recognising the outcome of the Benin congress, where former Minister of Sports, Chief Sunday Dare, officially inaugurated the NBBF board on 6 October 2022.
Adebayo therefore said hence the official tenure of the administration began on the date of inauguration and not the 31 January 2022 elective congress being erroneously circulated.
”The NBBF operates within the Nigerian sports ecosystem, where the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development serves as the supervising authority for all national sports federations. The formal recognition and inauguration by the Ministry confers legitimacy and marks the commencement of official duties.
He added that between the election in January 2022 and the inauguration in October 2022, the board could not exercise full executive authority due to the unresolved leadership dispute.
“Nigeria’s national teams were withdrawn from international competitions during this period, including the disqualification of D’Tigress from the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup despite having qualified. It would be inequitable to count this period of incapacity against the board’s tenure.
”The inauguration ceremony on 6 October 2022 was attended by key stakeholders, including the President of the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC), and received extensive media coverage, signifying the formal commencement of the board’s mandate.”
Adebayo also reassured that Engineer Kida is committed to upholding the NBBF constitution which stipulates a maximum of two terms of four years and he has no intentions to run for a third term.
”I wishes to state unequivocally that Engineer Kida respects the constitutional provisions governing tenure limits. The same constitution that brought him into office in 2017, following the completion of two terms by his predecessor, Malam Tijani Umar, is the same constitution he is committed to upholding. There has never been any formal proposal, discussion, or agenda item at any NBBF board meeting or congress regarding tenure elongation or a third term for any officer.”
He urged stakeholders and lovers of the game to focus on the achievements of the Engr. Musa Kida’s leadership from 2017 to 2025 instead of fanning the embers of crisis.
