A member of the outgoing Board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Col Sam Ahmedu (rtd), has admonished basketball stakeholders to be wary of fake and doctored media reports regarding the current NBBF imbroglio aimed at misinforming the public.
Speaking via telephone from Abuja, the retired Army officer who is the International Representative on the NBBF board, stated that the rate at which fictitious and distorted news reports are being churned out by certain persons is worrisome.
He cited a report, published online by Niyi Busari, claiming he was informed by Coach Scott Nnaji, that a FIBA Team was in Nigeria to discuss with the Nigeria Olympic Committee over the NBBF crises.
“This report has been found out to be false. The same reporter, who is widely known as an acolyte of one of the key players on the Tijani Umar group, in an attempt to frame the retired officer and portray him in a bad light, released a distorted report about the so-called ruling of the House Committee on Sports to further portray Ahmedu in a bad light.
” That report by Niyi Busari is a figment of his imagination. After the petition was read out, I gave my position that while I could speak about the funds promised to the players, however, I could not do so on issues related to volunteers which were outside my purview.
“The House Committee Chairman subtracted the amounts listed for volunteers and gave a ruling that the money promised to the players should be paid within 4 weeks. But in Mr Busari’s so-called expose, he chose to report it as if I was caught in a lie. I am not surprised because that is the adopted strategy of their group; portray Col Ahmedu as a liar and discredit him.
Ahmedu says he was curious how the reporter who was not present at the hearing of the House Committee could give a so-called verbatim report of its proceedings which he intentionally distorted.
He added that if Mr. Busari was keen on reporting the proceedings of the House Committee on Sports, why did he leave out the aspect where the same House Committee asked him (Ahmedu) to produce documents related to the Kwese Sponsorship deal whereby the sum of $2.25m USD was collected by a former President of the NBBF in 2017, only for the House to end its session abruptly when he brought the relevant documents to establish the facts.
It will be recollected that the past President of the NBBF, Mr. Tijani Umar, who is at the center of the NBBF crises, collected sponsorship funds from Kwese on behalf of the NBBF in the twilight of his tenure in 2017 but never handed same to the incoming board and neither has he accounted for same till date.
