By Ikenna Okonkwo
Abuja
Efforts by the executive Committee of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) failed to yield any fruit after both Mallam Tijani Umar and Musa Kida stood their separate grounds.
While Umar insisted on facing a fresh election, Kida maintained that the mandate which brought his faction into office cannot be reversed.
Disclosing this to Newsmen shortly after a marathon meeting staged inside ANOCA office in Abuja, NOC led by its President, Engr. Habu Gumel, Spokesman of the Committee, Tnoy Ubani said another seven days would be set aside for more consultations and that world Basketball governing body, FIBA would be approached for an extension of deadline regarding the timeline issued in July.
After two factions emerged, following separate elections that pronounced various leaders for Nigerian basketball in June, FIBA asked the country’s Olympic committee to resolve pending issues or conduct another round of election for all stakeholders to participate.
The letter conveyed through the official secretariat of NBBF also warned that failure to explore any of these options would attract sanctions after November 30, 2017.
However, NOC Media Officer gave more insight into discussions held between leaders of both NBBF Factions on Thursday adding; “We don’t have any interest whatsoever in this impasse. We have been working inwards before we now called them together.”
One of the NBBF Presidents, Umar who spoke before he left the meeting venue told waiting Journalist that nothing short of conducting a fresh election where all parties would be involved will be unacceptable.
