Some paid merchants have been paid to launder his image and paint his administration as the next best thing after RICE, but the truth is very glaring for all to see.
Sadly for them, facts don’t lie.
Many thought basketball was bad under Tijani Umar, under Musa Kida led Nigeria Basketball Federation, it became worse.
Let me quickly do a comparison between the Tijani Umar led NBBF presidency and the Musa Kida led Presidency
Under TJ Umar, we had functional leagues and relatively stable calendars for the men and women’s teams.
Under Kida, the board would just decide to hold whatever they like at any time they like.
Under TJ Umar, we had expanded league formats where teams play more games in home and away format. What we had were weekends of basketball extravaganza.
With Kida in charge, we hold 2 weeks of games (cumulative) with an average of 15/20 games and it’s game over.
Under Umar, games were on TV. It started from SuperSports then moved to Kwese. Players had fans, families watched their loved ones on TV.
Kida gave us nothing. Even, it took the initiative of individuals to have highlights and games on social media and YouTube. Nothing exist to be marketed.
Under TJ Umar, clubs and players knew what they were playing for as prize money were announced before the commencement of the season.
Under Kida, club owners and players are just playing for the sake of it. When they are done playing, winners are given empty trophies with no prize money.
Under Umar, we knew how much they were getting as subsidies to cushion the cost of prosecuting games.
Under Kida, team paid for everything. NBBF became a parasite who collected from teams (players and officials registration every season) with nothing gotten in return beyond the ‘bragging right’ of league champions and BAL ticket.
Players contracts had minimum wage and provision for insurance courtesy of Olumide Oyedeji’s foresight as the head of the League Management body under the TJ Umar administration. These documents were domiciled with the NBBF.
With Kida in charge, the welfare of players didn’t matter anymore. Players now play without any contract or insurance cover. Sadly, NBBF could not hold players to account because the NBBF became the proverbial irresponsible parents. If you did not give clubs money, you also don’t have any moral or legal rights to hold them accountable.
Club promotion under Umar was through promotion and on rare occasions, through bidding.
Under Kida, clubs were kicked out and replaced by other entities. Slots are given out and allegedly sold without the knowledge of the public and money pocketed by private entities.
Under Umar, federations financial and sponsorship dealings were opened to all as official announcements were issued with figures. When Kwese signed with NBBF, we knew. When Peak signed with NBBF, we knew. With Umar, sponsorship agreements were public knowledge. Everybody knew the exact or estimated figures that came into the coffers of the NBBF.
With Kida, everything became a personal affair. Nobody knew nothing. Currently, we have been asking how much NBBF got from AFA Sports for years of branding, we are greeted with disturbing silence. When Nigeria hosted the World Cup qualifiers in 2017 and Pre-Olympics qualifiers in 2023, we saw so many brands. Nothing was declared by the NBBF.
We are still asking questions about recent deals with XeJets, Adidas, NNPC and others, nothing has been declared to the public.
Under Kida, people sometimes pay into personal accounts with some of the money unaccounted for. Evidence plenty. It took the direct intervention of Zenith Bank before we had a semblance of what a proper league should look like. After several complaints and glaring evidences, Zenith Bank took direct control of many logistics and personally handled the payment of teams and vendors for the 2025 Zenith Women Basketball League and everybody saw that the difference was clear.
Under Umar, annual stakeholders meetings (AGM) were held where new ideas were discussed, innovations introduced while financial records were presented to Congress members.
Kida went silent on all stakeholders. For 4 years (after the elective Congress of 2022), no AGM was held. As sacrosanct as the AGM was as enshrined in the NBBF constitution, he kicked against all attempts to meet with stakeholders. This was symbolic of his administration. He didn’t see any need to be accountable to anybody.
Under Umar, deals were transparent. They did not jettison financially rewarding deals for unknown brands that had nothing to offer (free deal) just because of personal business interests.
Kida led board abandoned PEAK that had performance based financial support for the national teams and grassroots (leagues and developmental programmes) for an unknown brand, AFA, who leveraged on the national teams for FREE. The arrangement was parasitic. Nigerian basketball gained nothing from the deal compared to what PEAK offered.
Under Umar, we had All Star Games as part of season finale for the men and women’s league. This All Star Games idea was expanded into ALL STAR WEEKEND with pomps and pageantry thanks to Olumide Oyedeji as LMB chairman. Players were flown in from their different locations, accommodated, fed and paid for participating. They also embarked on media tours and under CSR activities.
Under Kida, All Star weekend died a natural death. Is it not when you have a league that you will have All Star Teams?
The All Star Teams died a natural but painful death. Even, Top 5 players had no reason to smile beyond the empty trophies presented to them.
Do we need to say more?
Yes, I know that I was part of the majority that supported the candidacy of Kida for obvious reasons.
We wanted more because we felt Nigerian basketball under Umar was punching below its weight.
But, Kida came with so many promises, but delivered little.
He just didn’t disappoint us, he disappointed himself. When we look back in future, we will remember how domestic basketball crumbled under his watch.
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