Basketball
RIVERS HOOPERS SIGN KANO PILLARS ABDUL YAHAYA
BY QUEEN MOSEPH
Rivers Hoopers have strengthened their roster by recruiting Kano Pillars power forward, Abdul Yahaya ahead of their Group A games at the FIBA Africa Basketball League next month in Morocco.
Yahaya who was a member of the D’Tigers silver winning squad in 2017, scored a total of 39 points in five games at the 2017 FIBA 3X3 Africa Cup in Togo and also represented Nigeria at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
He led Mark Mentors to the 2015 DSTV Basketball league title and emerged as the most valuable player of the competition and won the title with Pillars the following year.
Yahaya said he is in Port Harcourt to win and also do well with the club: “My target is to qualify from the group stage of the FIBA ABL and go far in the competition. We need to work hard and prepare because it’s an international competition not local.”
At the 2017 FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers in Lagos, Yayaha was named most valuable player, highest rebounder and highest scorer as Kano Pillars claimed the title in Lagos. He went on to play for Pillars at the 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup in Tunisia.
Despite losing to AS Sale in their opening game 112-83 points, Yahaha was top performer for Pillars as he scored 22 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
Yahaya gave a hint of what to expect when Hoopers play against AS Sale in their opening Group A game in Morocco and he’s confident the Port Harcourt side will come out of the group unscathed.
“Basketball is about your mind set your team mates should be ready to play and work as a unit and if we do, we will do well against any team we play against because those guys are well prepared, well paid and equipped, they don’t think about any other thing apart from basketball and they don’t care about the condition they are in they just have to deliver. They don’t just come a short time they have been together for a very long time. With the team I saw at practice today, they are young and have passion for the game and I believe we have a better team.”
The former Mentors forward averaged 17.6 PPG, 5th overall and 8.4 RBG, 6th overall at the 2017 FIBAACC.
Yahaya believes he is unstoppable having played in the last five continental championship for Mark Mentors and Kano Pillars coming out in the top 5 scorers at the 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup.
“The Tunisian team we are playing against is not the Tunisian League champions, Rades. I have played against those teams before apart from the one from Guinea (SLAC). If we put our heads together, I know no one in that Tunisian (JS Kairouan) or Moroccan team (AS Sale) that can stop me because at the last continental I was among the top five scorers of the tournament. They will also be scared so we just need to put our heads together,” he reiterated.
Head coach Ogoh Odaudu is confident Yahaya’s qualities will help the team achieve their target at the FIBA Africa Basketball League and all through the 2019 season.
Rivers Hoopers will begin their FIBA ABL campaign taking on defending champions AS Sale of Morocco on March 1.
By Ugo Okeiyi, Enugu
The end-of-year Ozobz Elite Basketball Invitational Tournament, tagged “Championing the Youth Through Sports, Education and Opportunity,” has taken off and will be concluded on Friday. The three-day event is taking place at the Indoor Sports Multipurpose Gymnasium, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.
The grassroots basketball competition is designed to serve as a platform for discovering and nurturing the next generation of Nigerian basketball talent.
A total of 14 teams — eight male and six female sides drawn from across the country — are competing for honours in what promises to be an exciting three-day basketball spectacle.
The tournament is powered by the Anthony Ozubuekwe Foundation, in collaboration with the Enugu State Ministry for Youth and Sports Development and the Enugu State Basketball Association.
Organisers say fans should expect high-quality action, with displays of skill, athleticism and tactical awareness from some of the most promising young players in the country.
According to the organisers, the initiative is structured to positively engage young people, steering them away from social vices and criminal tendencies, while using sports as a tool for education, personal development and opportunity creation.
They added that the tournament will also give coaches and team officials a valuable opportunity to assess the mental readiness, discipline and competitive mindset of the players, while providing a conducive environment for athletes to interact, bond and learn from one another.
The competition will be played in a round-robin format, with attractive prize money on offer. In the men’s category, the champions will receive ₦2 million and a giant trophy, while the runners-up will earn ₦1.5 million.
In the women’s category, the winning team will go home with ₦1.5 million, while the second-placed team will receive ₦750,000.
With its blend of competition, youth empowerment and community development, the Ozobz Elite Basketball Invitational is expected to be one of the standout grassroots sports events of the year in Enugu State.
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Former head coach of Nigeria’s men’s basketball team, Alex Nwora, will join family, friends and well-wishers on December 28, 2025, to celebrate the 90th birthday of his father, Chief Charles Okwudi Nworah, in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The milestone celebration, according to Evelyn Childs, Public Relations Officer of the US-based Imo Women Elite Club (IWEC), will take place at the expansive Onitsha compound of the nonagenarian, who is highly regarded in his community.
Born on April 17, 1936, to Akudo and Agnes Nwora of the Okakwu family in Ogbedogwu Village, Onitsha, Chief Nworah’s early years reflected strong family values rooted in education and public service. He attended St. Mary’s Catholic School before moving on to Prince Commercial College, and later completed his secondary education at Baptist High School, Osogbo, in Osun State.
Chief Nworah began his career in the civil service at a young age with the Post and Telecommunications Service (P&T), where his father also served and retired as a senior manager. His professional journey continued seamlessly into Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) following the merger of P&T with the Nigerian External Telecommunications.
Alex Nwora, who led D’Tigers through notable periods of growth and international competition, is expected to play a central role in the celebration, which will bring together members of the extended Nwora family and the Onitsha community to honour the life and legacy of the elder statesman.
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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has conferred national honours on all members of Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, in recognition of their historic victory at the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket Championship in Côte d’Ivoire.
Each member of the team was decorated with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) title at a special reception held on Monday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Representing the president at the event was Vice President Kashim Shettima, who announced a series of generous rewards for the champions.
In addition to the national honours, each player will receive $100,000, while each member of the technical crew will be given $50,000. The government also pledged a flat in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to every player and official on the squad.
The rewards follow D’Tigress’s emphatic 78-64 win over Mali in Sunday’s AfroBasket final, played at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan. The victory marked Nigeria’s fifth consecutive AfroBasket title, a feat unmatched in the tournament’s history. With the triumph, D’Tigress also secured an automatic berth to the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
President Tinubu, in his remarks delivered by Vice President Shettima, hailed the team’s resilience, determination, and consistency, describing their dominance on the continental stage as a symbol of national pride and inspiration to the youth.
Present at the reception were First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, Garba Maidoki, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Youths and Sports Development, and Kabiru Amadou, Chairman of the House Committee on Sports.
The honours and incentives underscore the government’s renewed commitment to recognising excellence in sports and motivating future champions.
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