Former D’Tigers coach and owner of Comets Basketball Club, Ayodele Bakare, has called for a factual and evidence-based review of Olumide Oyedeji’s over three-decade involvement in Nigerian basketball ahead of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, presidential election.
Bakare, in a reaction to a statement credited to Coach Eleniyan, said Oyedeji’s career and administrative contributions should be judged on verifiable responsibilities and documented achievements, rather than by mere association with past administrations.
According to him, Oyedeji, a former national team captain, has spent more than 20 years serving Nigerian basketball — from his days as a domestic league player and national team regular across various age-grade levels to appearances at the World Cup and Olympic Games.
His post-playing career, Bakare noted, has spanned administration at state level, the NBBF, the Nigeria Olympic Committee, and international basketball bodies, with a strong footprint in grassroots development.
Bakare listed some of Oyedeji’s grassroots interventions to include basketball camps in Kano, Jos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Osogbo, Nasarawa, Ekiti, Abeokuta, Akure and Lagos, as well as youth competitions such as the Rising Stars Basketball Championship, National Intercollegiate Basketball Championship and the Hoops & Read Basketball Club.
He also cited Oyedeji’s involvement in club basketball, particularly with Dolphins Basketball Club, which emerged champions of the 2025/2026 Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League.
While acknowledging Oyedeji’s long service, Bakare stressed that it should not shield him from scrutiny.
Quoting Coach Eleniyan, he said: “Nobody is saying that Mr. Olumide Oyedeji’s playing career should shield him from scrutiny. It should not.”
The focus, however, he argued, should be on personal responsibility and not collective blame.
Oyedeji was part of the NBBF leadership during the 2017 crisis and later served as South-West representative on the board elected in 2022. Bakare said those roles should prompt specific questions: what responsibilities were assigned to him, what decisions he was authorized to make, what decisions he personally took, and what the outcomes were.
Among initiatives linked to his tenure as League Chairman, Bakare mentioned player welfare measures, prompt salary payments, improved scheduling and recovery periods for teams, as well as welfare considerations for referees, statisticians and match commissioners, and sponsorship drives involving Peak and the All-Star Games.
He also pointed to the expansion of the women’s league into five phases — Abuja, Kaduna, Asaba, Ibadan and Lagos — featuring 18 teams, and the Kwese Elite Future Camp which brought experienced and emerging coaches together.
“Whether one agrees with every decision made during those years or not, these are specific initiatives that can be examined, verified and debated,” Bakare stated.
He argued that the same standard should apply to Oyedeji’s role in the Musa Kida-led administration, insisting that board membership alone should not translate to personal liability for every decision or controversy of that era.
“If someone has evidence that Mr. Oyedeji personally made a particular decision, mishandled a particular responsibility, or was personally responsible for a particular failure, then let that evidence be presented and examined,” he said.
Bakare called for all aspirants for the NBBF top job to be subjected to equal scrutiny, urging delegates and stakeholders to assess records, experience and manifestos based on facts.
He maintained that as the race for the NBBF presidency gathers momentum, the discourse must remain anchored on individual accountability and verifiable records.
“As Coach Eleniyan put it: Ask the questions. Demand the evidence. Examine the record,” Bakare concluded.
