Abba Yola Blasts, Says Nigeria’s D Tigers Display Criminal Show Of Shame At Gold Coast 2018 Basketball

FRANCIS ACHI/Abuja

Abba Yola, former Director, Research and Statistics at the National Sports Commission has attributed the losing streak of D ‘Tigers at the on – going Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Auatralia to criminal show of shame by the Musa Kida led board of the Nigeria BasketBall Federation (NBBF). 

Yola revealed this on his facebook wall in response to Sulaiman Saleh, a board member of the NBBF who had earlier opined that neither the President of the NBBF  nor  the national coaches of D Tigers are  to be blamed for the woes of the team at the games.

However, Yola is of the contrary opinion, as he insisted that the fiasco at the Commonwealth Games should be blamed on the Musa Kida and his fellow board members of the NBBF while  the coaches should not be exempted, having not demostrated sound professionalism in the discahrge of their duties of  handling D ‘ Tigers.

“I have no intention of joining issues with Sulaiman Saleh but some thing keep on burning in me as regards our commitment to our beloved nation. As important as Commonwealth Games is, a nation  like Nigeria can be put to shame by a group of people. This is truly amazing, ” Yola said.

“NBBF went through the qualifiers to represent Nigeria in Men’s Basketball at the on going Commonwealth Games in Australia and here we are being told that “the NBBF President has no hand in the team’s participation at both the qualifiers and the actual games, wonders shall never end, ” he added.

“To further abuse our sensibilities as a country and a people,  we were further told that the two coaches registered and accredited for the games  have no hand in the final list and most of the players that came from United States are not known to the coaches.

“This is our country and Sulaiman Saleh is saying we should not blame the NBBF President or the two coaches for our poor performance at the Men’s BasketBall Competition of the Commonwealth Games. Are we to blame the Ministry  or the Reformist?  Let us even agree not to blame them but are we not ashamed to officially admit this shameful and unpatriotic act by the coaches.

“Are they driven by the dollars allowances they will get to shamelessly accept sitting on a bench with a team they no nothing about or  were they expecting other teams to just take a bow and walk out from the court as soon as they see the green white green Jersey?

“Even if I stand to be called names, I  have to condemn those that are involved in this criminal show of shame, ” he said.

The former FIBA Africa champions were heavily beaten by New Zealand in their first game at the Gold Goast Commonwealth Games 110- 65 in Men’s preliminary round Pool A. The team lost their second consecutive game to Canada 82-67, and the losing streak continued when they shamefully lost all four quarters 23-17, 25-10,28-14 to Australia in the final pool game.