Some basketball players and supporters have stormed the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Abuja to stage a peaceful protest over the leadership crisis ravaging the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).
According to Daily Sun, the players, with the players’ representative in the Musa Kida-led NBBF board and NBA star, Ejike Ugboaja, led the protest on Wednesday.
Ugboaja while speaking shortly after meeting with officials of the Sports Ministry, decried the tactics deployed by the Sports Ministry to install Musa Kida as NBBF President, insisting that the players had 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,” Ugboaja said.
