Secretary-General of the Nigerian Basketball Federation, Chimezie Asiegbu, on Thursday said elections into the board of the federation would be conducted as soon as a new Constitution was drafted.
Asiegbu told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that it was only proper for the NBBF to fully comply with the directive of the International Basketball Federation.
He said: “There must be a Constitution before the elections. The letter written to us by FIBA says there has to be a Constitution first. We will first of all get our Constitution ready before the elections.
“It is only proper to take care of that first. Fresh elections into the federation’s board will come up after we submit a draft of the Constitution to FIBA and it is ratified.”
The world basketball governing body had, in a letter to the NBBF, directed that fresh elections be conducted and also called for a new Constitution which would strictly reflect FIBA’s regulations.
The letter, signed by FIBA’s Secretary-General, Patrick Bauman, stated that the elections held in Kano on June 12 violated article 9.3 of the FIBA statutes.
It also said the elections held in Abuja on June 13 failed to adhere to article 9.7 of the FIBA statutes.
NAN reports that the Abuja elections had seen Musa Kida emerging as the NBBF president, while Tijani Umar was the winner of the Kano elections the previous day.
FIBA’s decision came after a fact-finding mission of January, when it met with both factions in a bid to resolve the leadership crisis facing the NBBF.
Both Kida and Umar have since welcomed FIBA’s decision and promised to comply with its directives.
Asiegbu however said a committee had to be set up first before machinery would be set in motion to commence the Constitution-drafting process.
He said: “The Kida-led NBBF has to set up a committee first to look into it. But I can assure that things will work out well.
“We are genuinely interested in resolving this issue so that Nigerian basketball can move forward.”
On the XXI Commonwealth Games holding in Gold Coast, Australia from April 4, the secretary-general assured Nigerians that the national male basketball team, D’Tigers, would give their best.
Fresh elections to hold after FIBA’s ratification of new NBBF Constitution – Official
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