From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Basketball players, on Wednesday, in Abuja, stormed the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development in their numbers and held a peaceful protest over the leadership crisis rocking the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).
The players, with the players’ representative in the Musa Kida-led NBBF board and NBA star, Ejike Ugboaja led the protest.
Speaking shortly after meeting with officials of the Sports Ministry, Ugboaja lamented the tactics deployed by the Sports Ministry to install Engr. Musa Kida as NBBF President, insisting that the players have long rejected him.
“They (Sports Ministry) don’t want to conduct an election; all they want to do is to force someone who we don’t want on us. They are scared of FIBA Africa and FIBA International, which the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, is claiming.
“We, as players that have played in several World Cup tournaments, have represented Nigeria for the past 12 years; we can boldly say that FIBA is not Nigeria and we are not scared of their ban. As it stands today, if they force a president on us, we are going to ban ourselves from playing basketball.”