D’Tigers fires back at the government in Nigerian basketball civil war

The Nigerian men’s basketball team, the D’Tigers put out a strongly worded statement against the Nigerian government through its official Twitter handle.

The tweet was a direct reaction to FIBA’s confirmation of Nigeria’s absence from international basketball following a two-year ban placed on the sport by President Muhammadu Buhari.

FIBA tweeted to confirm Nigeria’s withdrawal from the upcoming 2022 Women’s World Cup in Australia after the Presidnet and the ministry of youth and sports refused to budge on the ban.

That confirmation from FIBA was met with a lot of reactions from top basketball stakeholders in the country of which the D’Tigers are included.

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The D’Tigers statement came in solidarity for their sister national team who have now been denied a spot at the FIBA Women’s World Cup by the ban.

Mali will now take Nigeria’s place at the World Cup despite losing to the D’Tigress in the qualifiers which is majorly what prompted the response from the D’Tigers.

The tweet read “We are saddened by the forced withdrawal of ‪@DtigressNG from the World Cup. We hope someday Nigeria will be led by a government without corruption & greed. The future of Nigeria basketball is extremely bright and we are being held back by our leaders.”

A further statement read “Nigeria is the best basketball country in Africa. This didn’t happen because of our leaders. It happened because of the players and staff who put their blood, sweat, & tears into their work. Nigeria’s biggest threat from progress is Nigeria. We need change.”