Basketball
AfroBasket Champion Murjanatu Musa Returns Home, Inspires Air Warriors with Gifts and Words of Wisdom
Fresh off her dazzling triumph at the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket Championship in Côte d’Ivoire, D’Tigress forward Murjanatu Liman Musa made a heartfelt return to familiar territory — her former club, Air Warriors Basketball Club of Abuja — on Friday.
With a warm smile and the poise of a champion, Musa arrived bearing gifts: brand-new basketballs and other donations for the players in camp. Her gesture, she said, was about more than charity — it was a call to chase greatness with hard work, discipline, and resilience.
The 25-year-old knows the Air Warriors story from the inside. Between 2018 and 2019, she wore the club’s colours with pride, leaving her mark as a star performer in their 2019 Women’s Basketball League title win and earning the coveted Most Valuable Player (MVP) honour that season.
Now shining in France’s Ligue Féminine de Basketball with Tarbes Gespe Bigorre, Musa told the team she had never forgotten her roots.
“If you stay focused and determined, success will come,” she encouraged, her words echoing in the gym.
The Chairman of Air Warriors Basketball Club, Alhaji Abdulmajid Solademi, praised Murjanatu Musa for staying connected to her roots and taking time to inspire the next generation of players. He lauded her visit as a powerful reminder that true champions never forget where they started.
Solademi also extended his commendation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for what he described as an unprecedented gesture that has the potential to transform Nigeria’s sporting landscape.
“The recognition of the girls’ performance by the number one citizen of the country is unbelievable — not to mention the cash rewards, properties, and the national honour bestowed on them,” he said. “This is the kind of support that can change the face of sports forever, and it will inspire countless young people to see sports as a viable and rewarding career path.”
The players, visibly inspired, hailed her generosity and hailed her journey as proof that dreams can take you from local courts to the global stage. With gratitude in their voices, they wished her even greater heights in her career.
Basketball
Fresh Ideas, Science Needed to Revitalise Basketball —ABA
Cyril Ogar
President/Founder, Amateur Basketball Academies, ABA, Aliyu Lucky Abubakar has called for a scientific and pragmatic approach to rediscovering the game of basketball in the North East.
The former player of many teams in Nigeria stated this on Saturday during training of coaches in Yola, Adamawa State.
Aliyu said the training is aimed to arm Coaches so they can, in turn, reach the children, especially those that ABA may not. The Deputy Comptroller in Nigeria Customs Service decried non-challant attitudes of the stakeholders in the development of basketball in the North East.
” Basketball is fading in the North East, and we at ABA will not allow it to die.”
“Adamawa was once a force in the game of basketball but had fallen behind. Our plan is to discover talent through coaching training, nurture it, and carry it from state level to the national team, and eventually, the global stage.” The basketball administrator said.
In his keynote message to the participants, which centered on the theme, “HOPE,” Harnessing opportunity, Organising for excellence, Promoting players’ development, and Empowering the next generation, Aliyu said, is far more than a drill instructors.
” Every child you see on a basketball court has a dream, and it is our job as a coach to spot it early and give it somewhere to go.” He concluded.
In his lecture titled, ” Who is a Coach”, Emmanuel Odah, the head Coach, FCT Basketball and former National Juniors team, described a coach as a committed, organised, affectionate, caring and humble.
” Commitment is consistency, and consistency is mother of progress; humility comes first because a coach who can not control himself can never control a game,” Odah insisted.
Other instructors at the training include ABA head of technical, Coach Adeka Daudu, as well as Coach Alexander Anyebe Ujoh, who spoke about the relationship between a coach and child in his care.
Coaches at the training commended ABA for its boldness to give hopes to basketball coaches all over the country. They promised that lessons learned would reshape and reset their mind on the job. They said the training will help them in understanding their role not only as an instructor but also grooming the children for a better future.
Among guests at the event include FCT Acting Director of Sports, Mr. Iyiola Ogundele and Bayelsa Veteran Basketball administrator, Coach Tony
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