Just last Saturday i was here lamenting that the first NBA game in Africa was holding in South Africa and not Nigeria due only to the fact that we lack proper infrastructure. Little did i know our brothers killing the game and country will go ahead to display their crass stupidity once more.
So, Masai Ujiri is in Nigeria for a basketball clinic with some other big names in the sport after the NBA Africa game that featured top NBA stars and legends- Dikembe Mutombo and our own Hakeem Olajunwon. For those who don’t know, Masai is a former basketball player and he currently serves as the General Manager of Toronto Raptors.
The clinic is expected to help 50 talented players, pulled from across the country, get better at the game and possibly get scholarships to study in US colleges if they impress the trainers. But yesterday some evil minds tried to stop the noble idea while the group gathered for Day 2 of the clinic. The gate to the gymnasium of the NIS, National Stadium, Lagos where the 3-day clinic is holding was locked by some unpatriotic persons because according to them Masai didn’t follow ‘Due Process’ (You know what that means around here). This happened in the full glare of the international media covering the coaching clinic.
President Buhari has another job cut out for him. He needs to beam his searchlight on sports administration in this country. Little wonder Hakeem Olajunwon would stop by in SA and not drop by his land of birth. This nation needs total redemption.
