While Nigerians await purported Fiba’s ban as championed by the supporters of the former President of the NBBF, Ahmed Musa Kida, the Nigerian Sports Advanced Group (NSAG) and former board members of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) have called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the alleged N3bn spent personally by Kida on basketball in four years.
A basketball stakeholder, Abba Kaka Abdulkadir, had on an African Independent Television’s sports programme monitored by this reporter claimed that Kida spent over N3bn from his pocket to sponsor the activities of the game in the country within the four years he held sway in the federation. Abba Kaka also claimed that the ministry only refunded him (Kida) half of the N3bn. But the President of NSAG, Charles Offiong said that the claim by Abba Kaka that Kida spent over N3bn from his personal pocket was false and called on the EFCC to investigate such a claim, adding that if Kida had spent such money as claimed then basketball would have gained momentum in the country even more than football. “How would somebody come on a live television programme and tell such a lie. What did Kida use the money for?
“If Kida had invested such money in the game, why are we not seeing evidence on the ground or did he use it to better the lives of his cronies and claim it was invested in basketball,” Offiong queried. In the same vein, some of the board members who spoke to this paper under condition of anonymity claimed that Kida did not spend a dime from his pocket to sponsor any basketball event, rather some of the board members spent their hard-earned money and were not refunded. They also called on the EFCC to invite all of them who served on the NBBF under Kida so that they could unravel the mystery behind the N3bn and other funds not remitted to the D’Tigress.
According to one of the board members under Kidaled NBBF, “I am surprised to hear that Kida spent over N3bn from his pocket to finance basketball activities in the country. He injected such money into basketball and yet our league went comatose within the period in view. “Besides, who approved the use of the said money if at all he actually spent it, What about the money some board members spent, what happened to it?