Basketball
RIVERS HOOPERS SIGN KANO PILLARS ABDUL YAHAYA
BY QUEEN MOSEPH
Rivers Hoopers have strengthened their roster by recruiting Kano Pillars power forward, Abdul Yahaya ahead of their Group A games at the FIBA Africa Basketball League next month in Morocco.
Yahaya who was a member of the D’Tigers silver winning squad in 2017, scored a total of 39 points in five games at the 2017 FIBA 3X3 Africa Cup in Togo and also represented Nigeria at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
He led Mark Mentors to the 2015 DSTV Basketball league title and emerged as the most valuable player of the competition and won the title with Pillars the following year.
Yahaya said he is in Port Harcourt to win and also do well with the club: “My target is to qualify from the group stage of the FIBA ABL and go far in the competition. We need to work hard and prepare because it’s an international competition not local.”
At the 2017 FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers in Lagos, Yayaha was named most valuable player, highest rebounder and highest scorer as Kano Pillars claimed the title in Lagos. He went on to play for Pillars at the 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup in Tunisia.
Despite losing to AS Sale in their opening game 112-83 points, Yahaha was top performer for Pillars as he scored 22 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
Yahaya gave a hint of what to expect when Hoopers play against AS Sale in their opening Group A game in Morocco and he’s confident the Port Harcourt side will come out of the group unscathed.
“Basketball is about your mind set your team mates should be ready to play and work as a unit and if we do, we will do well against any team we play against because those guys are well prepared, well paid and equipped, they don’t think about any other thing apart from basketball and they don’t care about the condition they are in they just have to deliver. They don’t just come a short time they have been together for a very long time. With the team I saw at practice today, they are young and have passion for the game and I believe we have a better team.”
The former Mentors forward averaged 17.6 PPG, 5th overall and 8.4 RBG, 6th overall at the 2017 FIBAACC.
Yahaya believes he is unstoppable having played in the last five continental championship for Mark Mentors and Kano Pillars coming out in the top 5 scorers at the 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup.
“The Tunisian team we are playing against is not the Tunisian League champions, Rades. I have played against those teams before apart from the one from Guinea (SLAC). If we put our heads together, I know no one in that Tunisian (JS Kairouan) or Moroccan team (AS Sale) that can stop me because at the last continental I was among the top five scorers of the tournament. They will also be scared so we just need to put our heads together,” he reiterated.
Head coach Ogoh Odaudu is confident Yahaya’s qualities will help the team achieve their target at the FIBA Africa Basketball League and all through the 2019 season.
Rivers Hoopers will begin their FIBA ABL campaign taking on defending champions AS Sale of Morocco on March 1.
Musa Kida, the president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), has been appointed as a non-executive chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the country’s apex oil company. His appointment is part of the sweeping overhaul that the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu made in the first working day after the Sallah break.
The sacking of the board of the NNPC sees the appointment of Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), replacing Mele Kolo Kyari. Prior to his current appointment, Kida was the Deputy Managing Director, Deep Water Services, of Total Nigeria.
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Basketball
NSC DG Bukola Olopade Congratulates NBBF Boss Musa Kida for new appointment as NNPC Chairman
The Director General of the National Sports Commission NSC, Bukola Olopade, has congratulated the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, Musa Kida, for his appointment as the new Board Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Olopade said Musa Kida has been one of Nigeria’s most efficient and Productive Sports administrators who has sacrificed a lot for the growth of Nigerian Basketball.
The DG maintained that his latest appointment is a testament to his years of passion, hard work, dedication and a very successful track record in the oil sector for more than two decades.
” Musa Kida is an accomplished administrator whose achievements cut across both the oil sector and Nigerian basketball. I have no doubt that the NNPC Limited will attain better efficiency and attract more investment under his watch”.
” Under his leadership as the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, we have seen the steady growth of the country’s basketball and how the National teams have continued to achieve new heights.
” At the last Olympic Games in France, the Nigeria Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress was one of the shining stories for Team Nigeria, where they set a new record by making it to the knockout phase before losing to the United States”.
” I personally know the efforts behind the scenes that kida put in for Nigeria to achieve that feat with the girls in France and the Nigerian girls have been an unrivalled team on the continent for some time now”.
The DG added that he does not doubt that Musa Kida will use his new position to further earnest the development of Nigerian Sports especially basketball especially now that there is a new focus on growing a sustainable Sports Economy.
” Whilst the Oil sector will benefit immensely from the Expertise of Musa Kida as the new Board Chairman of the NNPC Limited, Mr President, has further helped to place Nigerian Sports in a better pedestal by putting one of us in a very strategic place like the NNPC”, he concluded.
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Basketball
FIBA names Nigeria’s Agada among those who starred the most on the last day of the 2025 AfroBasket Qualifiers
The 16 teams that will be competing at this year’s FIBA AfroBasket from 12-24 August have been confirmed, with some teams securing their places on the final day of qualifying.
A quintet of individuals put in stellar performances to send their teams to this year’s African championship in style.
Teams have 169 days to prepare for the 2025 edition of the AfroBasket set to be hosted by former champions Angola, who will be chasing a record-extending 12th title.
FIBA- Africa looked at the matches and the players and featured nine players who were the stars of the final day on Sunday.
Here is FIBA’s analysis: The return of the Tokyo Olympian has been a blessing for Abdulrahman Mohammed’s Nigeria.
For the second game in a row, Agada was a thorn in their side’s side, scoring 23 points in a convincing 77-62 win over 2021 AfroBasket semifinalists Cape Verde.
The 30-year-old played just over 30 minutes and finished two rebounds shy of a double-double while adding six assists and five steals for an efficiency rating of 29.
Nigeria entered the competition after an 0-3 start, but his disruptive presence on the floor helped them to a 3-0 run to qualify, averaging 19 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
The other players highlighted are: Ousmane Drame of Guinea, Karim Maneof Senegal, Childe Dundao of Angola, Siriman Kanoute of Mali, as well as Ntore Habimana (Rwanda) Aliou Fadiala Diarra (Mali) Allan Dokossi (Central African Republic)and Nisre Zouzoua (Cote d’Ivoire)
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