President, Dodan Warriors Basketball Programme, Col. Sam Ahmedu (rtd.), has emerged the new President of Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) Africa in charge of Zone 3 at the 16th Congress of FIBA Africa held in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Col. Sam Ahmedu (rtd.),
Immediately after his election, Ahmedu, who had served as head of FIBA Africa Marketing Council, promised to reposition basketball in the zone.
“It is a call to duty, and I will do everything within my powers to reposition the game of basketball in the zone,” the former member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and technical committee chairman said.
After an initial four all votes on July 30, 2014, former Zone 3 President, Muktah Khaleh, also of Nigeria, stepped down, paving the way for Ahmedu’s emergence.
Khaleh’s gesture to step down, it was gathered, came after NBBF President, Tijani Umar, initiated series of meetings between Ahmedu and other top FIBA World and FIBA Africa bigwigs in attendance.
With that decided, Nigeria remains in charge of basketball programmes in the zone comprising Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.
However, Khaleh remains in FIBA Africa, where he is now president of the Finance Council. He replaces Hamane Niang of Mali who is now president of the African basketball ruling body after the immediate past president, Mabusa Eseka (Democratic Republic of Congo), stepped down.
In Zone 1, Omar El Barshushi of Libya emerged, while Rokhaya Pouye of Senegal leads Zone 2. Juvenal Lufuma of DR Congo leads the affairs of Zone 4, just as Hesha El Hariri of Egypt takes charge of Zone 5. Anibal Manave of Mozambique and Louis Abel Ntsay of Madagascar lead Zones 6 and 7 in that order.