BY BETHEL OBINNA, Abuja
The elections into the various boards of national sports federations have been carpeted by former member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Col. Sam Ahmedu (Rtd) as he raised alarm of a grand plot to stop him and some other critical stakeholders in the federation from participating in the exercise.

Ahmedu, currently the President of FIBA Africa Marketing Council and member of FIBA Africa Central Board, the international basketball decision-making body in the continent, is one of two top officers in the sports duly qualified for automatic places in the in-coming NBBF board.

According to the Guidelines of the election published by the National Sports Commission (NSC), at least two most senior members of international federations with no less than three years experience at elective positions would be included as members of the new board.
The retired army officer claimed that while one of the senior Africa FIBA officials, Muktar Khaleh was duly acknowledged and accorded his place on the incoming board that the NSC, working in connivance with the NBBF, denied him the right to be on the board. He however vowed to fight the injustice.

The Dodan Warriors Basketball Club financier disclosed that few people have made the kind of sacrifices he has made towards uplifting the game of basketball since venturing into the sport in 1967.

”They drew the guidelines for the election and stated in article two of the guideline that the two people must have been at FIBA level for at least three years.

I have been there in elective capacity since 1997, so what reason has anybody to deny me that right to be on the board of NBBF, other than that the whole process is a sham and people just being handpicked?”

He argued that most of the nominees for the incoming board have nothing to offer the sport, adding that a corrupt process will further reduce the image of the country at both continental and world level.