Nigeria’s basketball administration has been thrown into deep turmoil as Congress members of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) have formally accused the Musa Kida-led Board of breaching the Federation’s Constitution and illegally clinging to power beyond its lawful tenure.
In a strongly worded petition to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), representatives of State Basketball Associations and other statutory members of the NBBF Congress declared that the Board elected on January 31, 2022, has no legal or moral authority to continue in office after its tenure expired on January 31, 2026.
The petitioners, who describe Congress as the supreme organ of the Federation, insist that the 2019 NBBF Constitution drafted with inputs from FIBA, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the then Ministry of Youth and Sports remains the only valid statute guiding basketball administration in Nigeria.
According to the document, the 2022 NBBF elections were peacefully conducted and observed by FIBA and universally endorsed while Board members were sworn in immediately at the venue, triggering the commencement of their four-year tenure in line with Articles 21.8 and 23.10 of the Constitution.
However, the crisis, stakeholders say, began with what they describe as deliberate constitutional violations by the NBBF President Ahmadu Musa Kida.
The petition alleges that no Annual General Meeting or Congress was convened between 2022 and 2026 which is a clear breach of Article 20.2, which mandates at least one Congress annually, with the fourth being an Elective Congress.
Even more damning, the President is accused of failing to convene Board meetings for over a year, despite constitutional provisions requiring quarterly meetings.
The last Board meeting reportedly took place in late 2024, leaving the Federation effectively paralysed.
Stakeholders argue that this breakdown was not accidental.
“The outgone president turned himself into a sole administrator in order to perpetuate himself in office,” the petition stated.
As a result therefore, the aggieved Congress members are calling on FIBA to “declare that the outgone NBBF President and Board have exceeded their tenure and must vacate office, authorise the NSC and NOC to conduct fresh elections for the 2026–2030 Board using the 2019 Constitution, on or before March 31, 2026”.
They warned that they “must not allow beneficiaries of illegality to profit from the crisis they created.”
