• FIBA replaces Umar with Kida on official site
By Joe Apu
Members of the Nigeria national women’s team currently training under the guidance of Coach Sam Vincent in Orlando Florida, USA will storm Nigeria on Thursday to continue the final leg of preparations for the AfroBasket Women 2017 billed for Mali from August 18-27, 2017.
According to the vice president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, Babs Ogunade the team would join forces with the holidaying Europe based players as well as players from the domestic league for the final stretch that would see the team cut down to a final 12-man squad.
“I can confirm to you that our players currently training in Orlando would arrive Nigeria on Thursday to join the rest of the squad training here in Lagos. Every player deserves to be given a chance to showcase themselves for a place in the final squad.
“This current board believes in rewarding players for their efforts and for the players in the domestic league which just ended to have something to look out for. For us, it’s important that all the players train together as a unit to make for a better understanding of each other.”
Meanwhile, the International Basketball Federation, FIBA, has updated its official website. The latest update has seen the names of the new board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation officials led by Ahmadu Musa Kida replacing the names of Tijjani Umar and the former Exco that was on the site for the past four years.
A check by our correspondent soon after the Abuja and Kano elections confirmed Umar’s name as the NBBF President – an arrangement that lasted until through the inauguration period. But another check late Sunday night by Extrasportsnigeria.com confirmed that changes have been effected in the Nigerian section of fiba.com.
On July 26, the world basketball governing body had asked the Nigeria Basketball Federation to resolve the disagreements that arose from the election conducted for the federation alongside other 33 associations under the supervision of the sports ministry and the Nigeria Olympic Committee in Abuja.
on July 27 FIBA sent another letter, and also signed by the Secretary General of FIBA, Patrick Baumann, to all federations across the world listing Kida as the president, Babatunde Ogunade as his vice president and Chimezie Asiegbu as the Secretary General. The letter asked all FIBA affiliates to communicate only with the three listed for now in all matters concerning Nigeria. It is the same three names that FIBA has uploaded on the website.