The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and D’Tigress head coach, Rena Wakama have responded to assistant coach Abi Olajuwon’s outburst over unpaid dues after the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The daughter of NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon, on Thursday, called out the NBBF for not paying D’Tigress coaches after their impeccable outing in Paris where they reached the women’s basketball quarter-finals.
Olajuwon took to social media to express her displeasure and a day later, she confirmed that NBBF Secretary General, Peter Njoku has assured her of a new date for payment.
She tweeted: “Spoke with the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Basketball, Peter Njoku, after speaking with him, he seems very supportive and reasonable. He promised Monday and we shall see. Thank you for all the support, forever Nigerian even if others say otherwise.”
Olajuwon, who doubles as Connecticut Sun assistant coach, further shared coach Rena Wakama’s reaction to her outburst as she was removed from D’Tigress WhatsApp group and her message to the rest of the team.
Wakama said in a post: “Hey team, I’m sure you may have come across some things on social media that could be concerning. I want to clarify that these accusations are false and moving forward we will be separating from the individual involves.
“It is sad that it had to get to this point but moving forward we are utilising this experience to improve our hiring process.
“It is important that we do not bring people into our culture, that are not a representation of us. Please do not let this selfish act take away from what you all have accomplished this summer! I will take full responsibility for this situation and will continue to protect our culture at all cost.”
Amid the payment crisis, Nigeria’s women basketball team surged into the top 10 of the latest FIBA global ranking and D’Tigress are now the eighth-best women’s basketball team in the world.
USA remain unmoved in the top spot as Australia, France, China and Spain complete the top 5 and Mali is the second African country in the top 20.
