Pius Ayinor
Nigerians know a lot about the American NBA; many can name at least five teams or players in that league without any effort. They know so much because Nigerians love to follow the game as it is showcased by the Americans. It is also their dream that the Nigerian basketball league plays out like the NBA or at least something like it. But it is still very far from it because the kind of stories that the game generates in Nigeria are more discouraging and about the quarrels that swallow up development. The rate of stagnation has become worrisome that somebody or all of us have to take bold steps to make things work for Nigerian basketball.
Pardon me if you feel a bit disappointed that I’m narrowing today’s thoughts to basketball alone. This is actually a very big game that is far from its potential in Nigeria. I follow football with my head but then basketball with my heart. Soon you will understand why I am so pained.
The least of the pains is that of the 2013 play-offs which ended last week Friday in Lagos. If you want to hear my opinion about the play-offs, it was not more than a glorified regular season. I was not entertained; it was far below my expectations. But this was not the way it used to be in the period between 2005 and 2008 when the Nigeria Basketball Federation and Vmobile (now Airtel) partnered. Then we were entertained like it is done in the NBA. Kafi who started as a teen player in the Olumide Oyedeji Camp metamorphosed into a huge dancer and kept the halls lively with her troupe. Today, she is a national celebrity. The sponsors took it upon themselves to push the game to homes even when it was not on television because they were able to make it look like the NBA. It was a point of duty to bring to the hall the musician whose track was top of the chart for the period. I know that I had watched people like Tony Tetuila, Seun Kuti and many more during basketball games. Nobody needed to invite anybody because the atmosphere was lively. We struggled to get a parking space at the huge car park outside the stadium just as you needed proper accreditation for get a seat around the court that was usually overflowing. Today, it is no longer the same as the stadium is always empty even when it is seen on international television.
We could have gone much higher now but renewed intra basketball squabbles have not helped matters. The arrival of DStv has put the game on television but we need more than live television to make it attractive. In the past, I brought my family to the games but I have since stopped when it became very clear that they were better off at home than dozing off in such atmosphere at the National Stadium. Why on earth did we hold national playoffs from Wednesday to Friday? So what did we now do with Saturday and Sunday? Absolutely nothing! We could have had a better presentation if everyone put their heads together. The federation owns the game and so it is not the absolute right of the sponsors to determine the date and time to hold matches. I once walked into the sports hall to meet a match holding at 1pm on a Monday just because we wanted it live on TV. Does it mean that we all have to resign from our jobs to watch the league? I came into the stadium at 4pm on Saturday for the Atlantic Conference playoffs only to be told that the games were over. They were held at 12 and 2pm. Can’t we play at the right time and telecast them as delayed games?
Somebody said they did not want the play-offs to hold by the weekend to avoid any clash with the English Premier League. But it was a FIFA weekend last weekend which meant only national teams played and the Europeans played on Friday and Tuesday but we fell into that trap because there was no sharing of notes.
Basketball had always been volatile but the sports ministry officials didn’t help matters with biased handling of the 2013 elections. The NBBF president, Tijjani Umar, already had the majority from the way the nominations were done and so they didn’t need to block Sam Ahmedu from getting into the board. I did tell the ‘selection’ organisers that they had created another problem in basketball which was going to take us back to many years. Those opposed to Ahmedu say he was actually interested in running as the president but was merely presenting Musa Kida as a pretence. And so he had to be stopped from getting on board. Could Ahmedu have won the election? No is the answer but he should have been shut down in a better democratic fashion and not by a frivolous petition. The question nobody has answered is why they allowed a petition signed by Muktar Khaleh (Malone) to be used as the yardstick to stop Ahmedu. Would they have disqualified Malone (Khaleh) without giving him the chance to defend himself if Ahmedu had written a petition against him? Again, the answer is no.
As someone well versed in Nigerian basketball, I would not have voted Ahmedu as the president. In 1997 he did command a lot of following but events over the years have made him quite a controversial figure such that his leadership would not have enjoyed wide following. That is my submission. Ahmedu is passionate about the game; he has ideas for promoting and developing the game but his approach to handling matters he perceives as deliberately done to hurt him or his club is faulty and has only succeeded in creating more problems. By my estimation he has lost a lot of friends who were with him for the 1997 race.
Ahmedu may have his faults but Tj must also note that he is not perfect. If Ahmedu adjusts and Tj calms down with his hard line stance on those counted as not loyal to him, then a lot can be achieved going forward. It pains one that the Nigerian basketball leagues has only DStv (men) and Zenith Bank (women) as sponsors when we can have a lot more additional. And so the funds come lesser than they should be and of course the options are limited. These sponsors came in while Jacob Buba Gyang was the president and Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Services. Today, he is the Gbong Gwom Jos – an influential position that I feel the present board should have exploited to the maximum but the man has been treated like he does not exist anymore with Nigerian basketball. We have passed the era when we have to depend on the sports ministry for funding as we know that it is a ‘football’ country.
I believe that no matter the personal opinion of an individual as a basketball stakeholder, his heart must be expanded to absorb criticisms and accommodate dissenting individuals as soon as he becomes the president. That is what Tj Umar has to do for us to make the game better off here. In so many ways, he has tried to get a lot more people involved but that a closer look shows that the line is well drawn between loyalists and those who have ever raised dissenting opinion. If a ruler of a village of 5,000 inhabitants believes that all of them would approve of his approach to issues, then he has to think again. Even when all of them bow and say they are loyal you must give allowance for doubts. But all the same they are your entire subjects and so he must accept them as king over them and leave your heart very, very open to forgive, reach out and embrace those on the other side. Tj, you have to try and leave the rest to posterity if they reject your hands of fellowship.
A lot more will be said about Nigerian basketball on this platform but for now I beg to stop here for now.
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