Nigeria Basketball Federation on Thursday unveiled home and away kits for the national teams. According to AFASports, official kit sponsor, the apparels are custom designed in Nigeria with breathable micro mesh fabric performance in Sub-Saharan climate.
A reliable source disclosed to ACLSports on why the national team will be kitted by AFASports rather than Peak who still have a 4-year deal with the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF.
“The Peak sponsorship is still on but the NBBF have no access to the details except the Tijani Umar-led faction and they failed to hand it over or release details concerning the deal to the Kida-led faction.”
He continued: “When we were in Mali for the women’s Afrobasket in August we wrote to Peak whom we believe were our kit sponsor to give us kits for the girls, details of the deal but they didn’t answer. They wrote back to us that they would only deal with the TJ (Tijani Umar) group. TJ didn’t talk to us or hand over anything to us and that was how we told Peak we would move on to another kit sponsor if they refuse to kit our girls. In the end, AFASports came to our rescue and same thing happened at the men’s Afrobasket Championship co-hosted by Tunisia and Senegal the following month.
For a growing kit sponsor like AFASports, its not surprising to make good use of this present crisis rocking the NBBF to project their brand without getting anything in return. A lasting solution to this lingering crisis will be settled when FIBA gives it’s ruling on March 10.
Meanwhile, Vice President of the Tijani Umar-led faction, Olumide Oyedeji denied reports about Peak’s refusal to kit the national teams.
“The two factions wrote to Peak last year and it was only normal for the kit sponsor to tread wisely. Peak didn’t know who to believe so they had to keep mute. They later offered to kit the D’Tigress in Mali but the Kida group turned the offer down. After their victory in Mali, Peak sent a congratulatory message to them offering to kit the D’Tigers which they also turned down,” he said.
“Why would NBBF go for a kit sponsor like AFASports? Peak has been offering a $2m for 4 years contract while the former is offering nothing. If the public is unaware of who owns AFASports, its owned by Musa Kida and his friend Ugo they shouldn’t fool basketball fans and Nigerians.”
Nigeria are in Group B alongside Uganda, Rwanda and host Mali in group B of the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.The D’Tigers are expected to wear the jersey when they play against Uganda on Friday.
What a country!