Nigeria withdraws from international basketball over NBBF crisis

Following the leadership crisis that has dogged Nigerian basketball for more than eight years, the Federal Government, yesterday, withdrew the country from international competitions for a period of two years.

Citing the “unending crises that have plagued and nearly crippled basketball development in the country,” the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development said President Muhammadu Buhari approved the action for the period to enable the country tackle the issues.

Speaking in his office yesterday, Youth and Sports Development Minister, Sunday Dare, said the move would also provide government opportunity to revamp the sport from the grassroots, as well as revive the domestic leagues, which have become moribund.

Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar, Dare said the withdrawal will also allow for the setting up of an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to oversee the management and development of domestic basketball leagues and further address other related issues around the advancement of the game in the country.

He added: “Government intends to utilise this period of break to address all contentious issues among stakeholders. The Terms of Reference (TOR) and membership of the Interim Management Committee will be announced in due course.”

Dare also reiterated “government’s interest and commitment to the development of basketball in Nigeria, as well as huge talents of our youth domestically in an atmosphere that is free of rancour and squabbles.”

He called on players, officials, fans, and other stakeholders of the sport to remain calm “as government embarks on far-reaching initiatives to reposition, sustain and stabilize the game of Basketball for growth and success in the long term interest of the country.”

Recall that some basketball players had on Tuesday converged on the minister’s office to register their displeasure with government over its seeming unwillingness to resolve the post election crisis rocking the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).

Two separate NBBF elections were held on January 31, 2022 in Abuja and Benin with winners of the polls claiming to be the authentic leaders of the body.

The Abuja NBBF faction election produced Igoche Mark as the body’s president, while the polls in Benin returned Musa Kida as the federation’s boss.

The angry players, led by Players Representative on the Abuja factional board, Stanley Gumut, told journalists that the procession to the minister’s office was part of resolutions reached at their meeting held last week.

Gumut said players were not happy that the ministry appeared indifferent, while the leadership tussle was taking a toll on their careers, adding that the situation is hampering the growth of the domestic component of the game.

By Alex Monye

The Guardian

Nigeria: Kidnapped priest dies in captivity

“It is with a heavy heart, but with total submission to the will of God that we announce the death of Rev. Fr. Joseph Aketeh Bako, which sad event took place in the hands of his abductors between 18 – 20 April 2022.”

These words, in a statement released on Wednesday by Fr. Christian Okewu Emmanuel, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Kaduna, announced the death of the 48-year-old Nigerian priest.
 

Abducted in March

Fr. Bako had been kidnapped on 8 March by gunmen from his residence in St. John Catholic Church, Kudenda, where he had been serving as parish priest.

Vatican News had reported the news of the priest’s abduction in March and noted that according to reports, the security guard of the Church was killed during the attack by the gunmen.

In the statement, the chancellor explained that the communication of Fr. Bako’s death was only coming at this time as “the fact of the circumstances leading to his death and the date of the incident have been carefully verified.”
 

Prayers invited for the peaceful repose of Fr. Bako

The Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kaduna, Most Rev. Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso has extended his deepest sympathies to the family and the Catholic community of St. John Kudenda, the statement noted.

Christians are also invited to pray for the peaceful repose of the soul of Fr. Bako and for the consolation of the Christians in the Archdiocese of Kaduna.

Details of Fr. Bako’s funeral arrangements will be announced as soon as they are ready, the statement said.

Vatican News

Related story: Gunmen kidnap Nigerian Bishop in Owerri

Mob kills student over ‘blasphemy’ in northern Nigerian college

A college in the northwestern Nigerian state of Sokoto has been indefinitely shut after a female student in the school was killed over alleged blasphemy.

The yet-to-be-identified student was accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, which led to a mobbing that resulted in her death on Thursday, according to reports from local media. Her body was also allegedly burned afterwards within the school premises.

Sokoto state’s Governor Aminu Tambuwal ordered the closure of the school and directed the Ministry of Higher Education and relevant security agencies to investigate the incident. This came after outrage on social media against the killing, the state’s Commissioner of Information Isa Bajini Galadanchi told reporters.

“The governor has called on the people of the state to remain calm and maintain peace as the government would take appropriate actions on the investigation findings,” Bajini said.

The school’s management described the incident as an “early morning students rampage” in a circular dated May 12 and directed all students to “vacate the college campus immediately”.

Nigerians are using Twitter to protest the killing, calling on the government to ensure that justice was served.

“Murderers of Christian woman in Sokoto must be arrested & punished!” Farooq Kperogi, a journalism professor at Kennesaw State University, said in a tweet.

“Sadly, this sort of consequence-free murder of people in the name of avenging “blasphemy” has been going on for far too long in the North. This must stop! The monsters in that video are easily identifiable. The Sokoto State government must immediately apprehend them and make an example of them. If that doesn’t happen, this kind of murderous barbarism will continue,” he added.

Popular human rights activist Aisha Yesufu, herself a Muslim, also condemned the act saying “no one has the right in anyway whatsoever to kill another”.

Cases of mob attacks against alleged blasphemy happen intermittently in Nigeria, as “many Shariah laws in northern Nigeria continue to criminalise blasphemy and result in harsh punishments for blasphemers,” according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The north of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is majority Muslim while the south is predominantly Christian.

The country’s Criminal Code prohibits any act that publicly insults any religion and stipulates a prison sentence of up to two years, while there are Islamic laws against blasphemy by sharia courts in 12 northern states.

The latter are “exclusively concerned with actions considered insulting to Muslims, the punishment for which can be as severe as execution”, according to the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.

“Most blasphemy accusations are made by Muslims against Christians and frequently trigger mob violence before any official actions like police arrests and judicial trials can be taken. Blasphemy is thus primarily a driver of sectarian violence rather than legal proceedings in the Nigerian context,” the Berkley Center said.

In April, a Nigerian court sentenced an atheist to 24 years in prison for making social media posts considered blasphemous against Islam. Mubarak Bala, a former Muslim, was sentenced after pleading guilty following a lengthy trial during which he spent nearly two years in prison.

In 2020, a sharia court sentenced Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a 22-year-old Muslim gospel musician, to death for committing blasphemy in a series of private WhatsApp messages. 

Al Jazeera

Related stories: Outspoken Atheist, Arrested in Nigeria for Blasphemy, Hasn’t Been Seen Since 

Nigerian singer sentenced to death for blasphemy in Kano state

Video - Nigerian palm oil farmers seek government input to maximize output

Nigeria is one of the largest producers of palm oil globally with small-scale farmers being essential to the country's annual output of more than one million metric tons. However, the farmers and industry players are struggling to realize their full potential due to various reasons. CGTN Africa spoke to stakeholders in the Nigerian capital Abuja to find out the reasons behind their struggles and what can be done to improve it.

Nigeria’s ‘Incredible Kids’ Gain Popularity on Internet

A Nigerian dance group with a disabled member has suddenly gained popularity after posting their videos to social media.

One video has tens of thousands of views. The dancers are children as young as five years old. They are called “The Incredible Kids.”

Their videos have been posted to the video sharing service Instagram. The children dance quickly to popular Nigerian songs. And they are busy performing in cities like Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria.

One dancer is 15-year-old Joshua Anum. Joshua has a disability. He lost his arm after an accident at the age of five. Joshua’s father left him and his 8 brothers and sisters. They did not have much to eat when growing up. But that has not stopped Joshua from dancing, and it has changed his life.

"Before I came here I used to go to parties, I used to fight anywhere I went and I was not going to school," said Joshua. "Since coming here I have started school and I read and dance.

Vera Anum is Joshua’s mother. She said that she was very sad when the doctors removed his arm. But now she is happy and proud of him.

"Everybody thought...he will not be useful in life. Our people at home said he is finished because somebody whose hand has been amputated from childhood, what can he do?” Vera said.

She said, “See him today, at least the whole world is seeing him, watching him how he is performing."

Maliki Emmanuel is the dance group’s creator. Emmanuel said that many of the dancers do not have a good family life, so he has offered them support and a home.

The students often gather around Emmanuel in his chair at his home and watch music videos together so they can get new ideas for the dance moves and performances.

Emmanuel hopes to expand his group with more children who need a home and love to dance. "I can teach them then we will bring them to the crew,” Emmanuel said.

Money from the dancers’ performances helps pay the cost of the children’s education.

By Faith Pirlo

Abraham Achirga reported this story for Reuters. Faith Pirlo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

VOA