The Director of International Tennis Academy, Godwin Kienka, has labelled the sports ministry’s appointment of an Interim Management Committee ‘illegal’, The PUNCH reports.
The sports ministry Monday announced it had set up a 10-man committee to oversee Nigerian basketball, following a two-year ban on international basketball.
The appointment came two weeks after sports minister, Sunday Dare, said a committee would be set up to oversee basketball leagues in the country, after announcing the withdrawal of Nigeria from all international basketball competitions for a period of two years, following the lingering leadership rift in the Nigeria Basketball Federation.
Reacting to the interference by the ministry, Kienka said, “I’m sure most people will see the appointment of the committee as illegal and I also think it’s very wrong for the ministry to take over the running of a federation that is not in crisis.
“This is an instigated crisis by the ministry, which is not in the interest of basketball and interest of sports generally. Basketball was progressing and we had a great time heading into the international tournaments. Who would not be happy with what is going?”
Kienka added, “We had the momentum because we were doing well, the girls qualified for the world championship, the men were in the process of doing that and we are back-to-back champions. Why would you take the shine off them?
“The minister is doing a great disservice to sports generally and this interference and taking over the federation is a shame.”
But one the of the committee’s members, Aderemi Adewunmi, said the ministry’s decision was in the right direction.
“The ministry called me to come and solve a problem, whether it is legal or illegal, the Federal Government is in position to respond to that,” he told The PUNCH.
“As far as I’m concerned I was invited to come and solve Nigeria’s local league problems, which I will willingly do because it is a national call. There is no way I was going to reject it. I will be committed and loyal to the job and whether people think it is legal doesn’t matter.
“I have handled so many national teams before and this is going to be a success because all the people on the committee are not bias. We are not expected to be paid salary. We are committed to the job and we will do it to our very best.”
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