₦airaland Forum

DangotePikin:
please how many top basketball leagues do we have in Nigeria?

rman:
Lagos Islanders is not owned by Sound Sultan but Damoye Oyesiku. Sound Sultan is just an ambassador of the club.

NET Exclusive: How I got involved with Lagos Islanders – Sound Sultan

Posted on June 15 2015, at 07:34 am
By ‘Dayo Showemimo

Sound Sultan is spearheading a new direction in basketball in the country, adding some glamour and razzmatazz which didn’t exist to how the game is played and its administration at all levels.

News of his involvement in the game broke in September 2014 when it was reported that he had bought over popular basketball team, Lagos Islanders. In this exclusive interview with NET, he explains his true involvement with the team, adding that he just didn’t stumble into the game.

‘I played Basketball from 1991 till date. I was the basketball team captain of my secondary school and even my university, that’s the kind of prominent role I’ve always played, so for me right now it’s not out of place that I now invest in the game,’ he said.

Since he was this much involved, we queried why he didn’t take the game up as a career instead of music, and he said it was ‘because it wasn’t really viable and I used to get knocked down a lot by the bigger guys, moreso I had another talent that I could nurture which is music. But I never really left the corridors of basketball.’

For the first time, Sound Sultan explained that he’s not the sole owner of Lagos Islanders Basketball team as previously reported in the media; he says there are other partners.

‘This time around a group of young men came together with the aim of taking basketball in Nigeria to another level and get new converts to buy into the basketball industry. So for us, we have a man called Damoye who was the incumbent owner of the team, we have Ugo Udeze, Tajudeen Sulaiman and myself. I actually used to play for Dordan Warriors. So we all came together like Voltron and we all have our strong points.

Damoye has owned the team for the past 8 years and he understands the politics involved in the industry and he guides us in the right direction, Ugo Udeze is the only certified African Agent in the NBA as one of us, he understands the level at which the NBA operates and can infuse into the Nigerian industry as well.’

You could have been part of any other team, why Lagos Islanders, we asked and the Naija Ninjaz boss said: ‘Well, I’m resident in Lagos, the fact that the ‘Lagos’ name is in it is another factor and we’ve not even gone the route of getting Lagos to sponsor us yet.’

He however declined to respond to our question on how much he personally invested in the team.

‘If you look at me I don’t ever put monetary values on anything I do because you can’t monetise me. For me, whatever I do be it my cars, house, I don’t have to tell you how much I bought it because it’s passion driven.’

Sound Sultan Explains Why He Bought Into Basketball Team, Lagos Islanders

Singer Sound Sultan has spoken about his involvement with basketball franchise, Lagos Islanders.

In September 2014, the team’s owner, Akinseku Damoye had revealed that the Bushmeat singer would be joining the team’s owners.

In an interview with NET, Sultan confirmed that he was just a part of the owners, not the sole owner.

“This time around a group of young men came together with the aim of taking basketball in Nigeria to another level and get new converts to buy into the basketball industry. So for us, we have a man called Damoye who was the incumbent owner of the team, we have Ugo Udeze, Tajudeen Sulaiman and myself. I actually used to play for Dordan Warriors. So we all came together like Voltron and we all have our strong points. Damoye has owned the team for the past 8 years and he understands the politics involved in the industry and he guides us in the right direction, Ugo Udeze is the only certified African Agent in the NBA as one of us, he understands the level at which the NBA operates and can infuse into the Nigerian industry as well.”

He however didn’t say how much he put into the team, saying he did it for the passion and not monetary value.

“If you look at me I don’t ever put monetary values on anything I do because you can’t monetise me. For me, whatever I do be it my cars, house, I don’t have to tell you how much I bought it because it’s passion driven.”

The franchise has attracted a lot of interest since Sultan joined the team, with celebrities like Ice Prince, Agbani Darego and Caroline Danjuma having been spotted at the team’s Landmark Centre.

toyinjimoh:
So kano pillars get basket ball team, nice one

somehow:
I think 10-12(I actually meant clubsides)

rman:
Kwese league for men

Zenth league for women

Then the lower divisons (Div 1 and 2)

The top league for has two conferences of 8 teams each

while the women is not split into conferneces but olayed in phases until a winner emerges. There were 5 phases last season and First Bank club won the women league

naptu2:
http://thenet.ng/2015/06/net-exclusive-how-i-got-involved-with-lagos-islanders-sound-sultan/




https://www.360nobs.com/2015/06/sound-sultan-explains-why-he-bought-into-basketball-team-lagos-islanders/

naptu2:
First Bank are the powerhouse of the women's game, just like Kano Pillars is in the men's game.

This year's league is kind of strange to me because quite a few of my favourite teams from the 1980s and 1990s are not in the premier league. There's no Lagos Islanders, Ebun Comets or Dodan Warriors.

rman:
Kwese league for men

Zenth league for women

Then the lower divisons (Div 1 and 2)

The top league for has two conferences of 8 teams each

while the women is not split into conferneces but olayed in phases until a winner emerges. There were 5 phases last season and First Bank club won the women league

rman:
Comets was relegated. They are in div one and played last season and will compete this year.

Islanders, Union bank now Stallion boys and Dodan warriors were victims of Nigerian basketball politics for partucipating in the ABL.

All these teams still exist and with a new NBBF board , majority of them will return as most of the owners of this clubs now have their cronies on the new board.

naptu2:
Just one, the Kwese Premier League (and its lower divisions) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Premier_League_(basketball) ) . Winners of the Kwese Premier League play in the FIBA Africa Clubs Cup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_Africa_Clubs_Champions_Cup ).

However, in 2016 some of the most famous clubs created a new African league (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Basketball_League ) . The clubs included Lagos Islanders (partly owned by Sound Sultan), Lagos Warriors (of the Dodan Warriors/Dodan Barracks Basketball programme) and Stallions (Union Bank). Clubs from Senegal, Ivory Coast and Gabon were also involved in the league.

They then sought permission from the Nigerian Basketball Federation to play in both their new league and the Nigerian league. The NBBF told them that they should have sought permission before creating the league. They said that they had the permission of FIBA Africa, but FIBA Africa wrote to the NBBF that they never gave permission for the new league to hold. Then the NBBF indefinitely suspended all the Nigerian teams that took part in the new league.

naptu2:
I know that they all exist. I mean that they are not in the premier league. I'm used to watching them compete in the premier league. I've been closely following Nigerian basketball since 1985 and a relative of mine played for YMCA and NEPA in the league from 1987 till he got injured c1992. I know Noik, Colonel Ahmedu (Musa Ahmadu is Colonel Ahmedu's protégé), Lati and all of them.

toyinjimoh:
So kano pillars get basket ball team, nice one

danjumakolo:
lols

Anyway see the basket ball teams in Nigeria

SAVANNAH CONFERENCE

Mark Mentors (Abuja)
Bauchi Nets B.C.(Bauchi)
Kano Pillars (Kano)
Defenders (Abuja)
Plateau Peaks (Jos)
Gombe Bulls (Gombe)
Niger Potters (Minna)
Kada Stars (Kaduna)


ATLANTIC CONFERENCE

Oluyole Warriors (Ibadan)
Delta Force (Asaba)
Hoops And Read (Lagos)
Nigeria Customs (Lagos)
NAF Rockets (Lagos)
Police Baton (Lagos)
Kwara Falcons Basketball Club (Ilorin)
Royal Hoopers Basketball Club (Port-harcort)

Don't even know if Ebun comets exist now.

The top teams in Africa are

Egypt,Angola,Mali,Senegal,Tunisia, Algeria,Nigeria, ivory coast