Joe Apu
The Federation of International Basketball Association, FIBA, yesterday ordered for fresh elections into the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF.
The call for fresh elections was sequel to the Central Board Meeting of the body held at the FIBA House, Mies, Switzerland after its deliberations last Saturday.
Secretary General of FIBA, Patrick Baumann in a letter directed to Musa Kida and Tijani Umar stated that in maintaining its initial stance of July 2017 and in the absence of an amicable resolution, FIBA had decided that fresh elections be conducted, insisting that the June 12 and 13, 2017 elections held in Kano and Abuja respectively failed to meet the FIBA General Statutes.
“Such elections must be held in accordance with a procedure established in the NBBF Statutes. As such, FIBA will work with relevant stakeholders to amend and develop the NBBF statutes so that such statutes fully comply with all relevant and applicable regulations, primarily the FIBA statutes, and guarantee complete independence of the elections with no influence from a third party.”
FIBA further stated that it would determine when NBBF statutes are compliant as per the above and reserved the right to oversee parts or the entirety of the electoral process. “Finally, until such time as the new elections are held, FIBA will continue to communicate with the NBBF as per our letter of 26 July 2017,” the letter stated.
Meanwhile, Musa Kida has maintained that the NBBF will cooperate with FIBA to come up with acceptable statutes for basketball administration in Nigeria in line with FIBA provision.
“Going by the letter received this morning, FIBA was silent about the date for a new election as they unequivocally stated that they will maintain communications with us. As a responsible organisation with a passion for basketball development in Nigeria, we will work closely with FIBA during this critical phase, forging a way forward for basketball in Nigeria.”
Similarly, Tijani Umar has welcomed the decision of FIBA for a fresh election to settle the leadership dispute in the NBBF.
“As a body that respects the reconcilation effort of FIBA, we acept the directive of FIBA for a fresh election based on the NBBF statues and overseen by FIBA without interference from any third party,” a statement from the Umar camp stated.