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SWAN National Elections: State Chairmen Set Up New Electoral Committee

Published

6 years ago

September 18, 2019

Chairmen of state chapters of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) have made a bold move to save the Association from the brink of collapse it has drifted into.

The Chairmen, as well as representatives of other chairmen not unavailable, have set up an Electoral Committee to organize elections into the Association’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

According to the chairmen, who have gone on to inform the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) of this development, the new electoral body is to swing into action immediately.

The chairmen gave the new body, tagged “SWAN Credentials Committee (SWANCredCom)’’, six weeks to organise free and fair elections in Abuja.

The body, which is headed by Idris Abdulrahman, a former Chairman of Kano SWAN, has seven members who are all drawn from the country’s six geo-political zones.

The chairmen, in a letter to the NUJ President, Chris Isiguzo, recalled that the issue of SWAN National Elections had generated some controversy in recent weeks.

“You will recall that in a recent appeal to you a group of our members, tagged “Concerned SWAN members”, demanded that the 2019 SWANECO as presently put together by the National Chairman of SWAN, Honour Sirawoo, was inappropriately constituted.

“The group (had) also argued that the committee was not going to organize free and fair elections, pointing out several anomalies and further predicting the demand on the arguments of several congresses of some state chapters of the association.

“You will no doubt agree with this group, as well as those state chapters, that indeed there is a cause for concern on the state of affairs in SWAN.

“This situation, and the pressing need to right the wrongs and put the Association back on its feet, has therefore forced several members of the Association to meet in Ilorin on Tuesday, with representatives from 22 of the Association’s state chapters,’’ the chairmen said.

The chairmen, in the letter signed by Akpera Nase and Ahmed Aigbona from Benue and Edo respectively, said SWANCredCom, is to organize the elections in Abuja under the supervision of NUJ.

“The committee is also to ensure all efforts are made to have all the state chapters represented at the elections.

“ It is our expectation that the committee, in spite of prevailing circumstances, will be able to organize free and fair elections which will bring into place a new leadership in the Association.’’

The committee headed by Abdulrahman also has Timothy Omodude (Edo), Zare Baba (Adamawa), Abdulrahman Abolore (Lagos), Kennedy Onwunali (Imo), John Adams (Niger) and Abdullahi Tanko (Katsina).

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CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TRAJECTORY IN NIGERIA

Published

3 weeks ago

December 1, 2025

The Gleamer

This week, millions of Nigerians and others across the globe will join the Ministry of Aviation and Space Development under the irrepressible leadership of the Honourable Minister, Festus Keyamo(SAN),and all the notable Aviation sector stakeholders in and outside the country,in celebrating a century of Nigeria’s civil aviation history.

There is no doubt that under the present leadership of the Honourable Minister and within the short spell of time in his stewardship,he has consciously and intentionally embarked on a “silent revolution” for the industry with very veritable and laudable landmarks that have consistently grown the industry.

Some of these spirited efforts for instance have consequently led to trust restoration amongst international lessors, financier,any global partners.Of note also is assidiously working for the full domestication and implementation of the “Cape Town Convention Agreement” ,which gives Airlines access to modern fleets of competitive rates as well as enforcement of IDERA(Irrevocable Deregulation and Export Request Authorization).

Having well applauded these vital contemporary initiatives,it will also be germane to cast our minds in retrospect by taking a peep into our history over several decades to recognise some of the notable forebears in the industry whose impressionabl efforts cannot be overlooked,as they took the impetuous initiatives of breaking the ice at the nascent stage.
It will aptly corroborate the truism which says that… ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.

The above is vividly captured from a tribute by the First Republic Minister of Aviation Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at the funeral of late Igwe of Oba,HRH Peter Ezenwa(MFR) in 2018.
It states inter alia…”One significant thing I will say many people didn’t know is that the first indigenous airline that was to run in Nigeria was known as “STANDARD AIRLINE”.It was founded in 1966 by a company formed by Igwe Peter Ezenwa from Oba,and had on board,John Nwankwu from Abagana,Edward Ebo from Ezinifitte,(all from Anambra state),John Anyaehie from Nkwerre in Imo state,and lastly my very self Mbazulike Amaechi.
The five of us later acquired two brand new aircrafts,and had four pilots,namely;Unachievable,John Emma Ngwu and Felix Offor,who was to be the General Manager of the airline.
But just about the time for the take-off the crisis of the military takeover erupted in the North as the planes were on their way for delivery to us.In fact the bank handling the transaction was to allow the planes to be flown from the USA,but the news of the war broke out in 1967,the insurance company cabled for the cancellation of the deal as they will not be able to cover the risk cost of aircrafts being flown into war zone.
So,we asked the manufacturers to take the two aircrafts back to their country and hold on for six months with the hope of that the war will end within the requested time frame,but the war didn’t end as thought.We consequently asked for refund and they deducted some money and refunded the balance which was deposited at the London branch of African Continental Bank(ACB).

When the government took over the operations of ACB,we still hoped for the refund but unfortunately were disappointed that the Federal government took over the whole money and we lost everything.”

Further in line with our historical perspective,it will also be pertinent some of the later years reformists in the likes of Engr Onyereri and Harold Demuren who advertently sponsored some far reaching regulations that eventually steered the industry towards greater autonomy with the passage of the 2005 Civil Aviation Act,which I was also a prime participant of in my capacity as an Aviation sub chair in then House of Representatives.

As we mark this great century milestone,and with the clear evidential pathway set out by the current managers of the industry under the indomitable leadership of Honourable Minister, I do not see the sky posing any limitations as they say,but rather availing new vistas of limitless growth opportunities.

CONGRATULATIONS.

Hon Chidi Nwogu
Former member House of Representatives & presently Governing Council member
,African Aviation and Aerospace University,Abuja.

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