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The board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, has lauded the fatherly role played by His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari in the Senior Women’s Basketball team’s 2019 Afrobasket triumph.

The board led by Engr. Musa Kida said that the President’s unflinching support provided the enabling environment for the federation to prepare the team for their Afrobasket title defense.

According to Kida who was on ground to cheer the team to victory in Dakar , the resilience and doggedness of D’Tigress in the face of adversity before and during the final game against host- Senegal stemmed from the support of millions of Nigerians led by President Buhari.

“His Excellency’s support was vital to D’Tigress’ success. He came through for us as the father of the nation when we needed him most and the entire team and the board is grateful for this.”

Kida said the outstanding records achieved under His Excellency could not have been possible without his express support and personal efforts.

“Under his Excellency, Nigeria has continued to break barriers and set new records in basketball.

Under his watch, we won the 2017 Afrobasket Championship in Mali and it is on record that he hosted the girls in Abuja.

“The men came second in Africa also in 2017 at the Afrobasket and became the first country in the world to qualify for the FIBA World Cup months later. Now, we have achieved another incredible result of successfully defending our title which is a rare feat in African basketball”, Kida continued.

Kida confirmed that with such support from the number one citizen of the most populous black nation in the world, the NBBF and all its national teams can only reach for the stars.

In the same vein, the board also congratulated the new Honorable Minister of Sports, Mr Dare Sunday who was on Wednesday inaugurated.

Kida expressed optimism that the newly appointed minister will hit the ground running at such a critical time that sports is needed to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria.

“We are excited about this timely appointment just days before the men senior basketball team start their FIBA World Cup in campaign in China. We believe that his goodluck charm will work for the team in China as they hope to shock the world.”

“In my personal capacity as Musa Kida and as President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, we wish him a successful tenure while in office serving our fatherland.”