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SWAN parallel congresses illegal, NUJ VP says

Published

7 years ago

October 8, 2019

Monday’s parallel congresses held by two factions of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) are illegal, an official of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) said on Tuesday.

Wilson Bako, Vice President of Zone D, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said in Lafia that the congresses, which were held in Port Harcourt and Abuja, should be disregarded.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that two sets of SWAN national officials emerged at the separate elective congresses to pilot the affairs of SWAN at the national level.

The congress in Abuja elected current Edo Chairman Ahmed Aigbona as President unopposed, with Mike Oboh also emerging unopposed as Secretary-General alongside other officials.

Also, the other congress in Port Harcourt, held almost simultaneously, returned Honour Sirawoo as National President through a voice vote, with other officials also elected unopposed.

Both congresses were held contrary to NUJ’s directive, which had asked that both events be suspended pending when issues surrounding the conduct of the elections were resolved.

Bako told NAN that NUJ’s stand on the matter still stands and both congresses are illegal.

“This is because issues which led to the factionalisation of the Association and the emergence of the two factions have not been resolved.

“But it is unfortunate, in the sense that SWAN members exercised a sense of disrespect to constituted authority.

“The national body of NUJ, which each member of SWAN must be a member of before contesting as a SWAN official, gave a directive which has now been disregarded.

“The directive was that since there were petitions to be sorted out every faction should halt any further action. That is, there should not be any election pending when those petitions are sorted out.

“But unfortunately, the two factions went ahead and conducted elections in Port Harcourt and Abuja. Each one emerged with their officials. Both of them are illegal. I now see a situation whereby SWAN has

entered a problem it will hardly come out from,” he said.

Bako however expressed optimism that the NUJ President, Chris Isiguzo, would rally both factions to a meeting to hold constructive discussions which would resolve the division in SWAN.

“I know that the NUJ President is an intelligent person. He is someone who knows the NUJ Constitution very well. At the end, he will have to call the two factions to come for a round table discussion. But, for now, those elections conducted yesterday are null and void.’’

Bako expressed hopes that proper elections would be conducted after the discussion.

“But as long as they remain as factions, I will suggest that all of them should be expelled from NUJ. It is unfortunate that people can be so desperate, lawless and reckless because they want power,” he said.

The NUJ vice-president warned that unless the two factions gave NUJ its due respect as SWAN’s mother union which it is affiliated to, no progress can be made.

“The National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) is answerable to NUJ. So, why should SWAN be different?

“We have the political news reporters association, business news correspondents and a few others, but they are all answerable to NUJ. Only a fool will say it has nothing to do with its mother,” he said. (NAN

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Lagos Women Run: Kit Collection Begins Tuesday

Published

5 days ago

November 7, 2026

The Gleamer

Cyril Ogar

The collection of kits for the forthcoming 2026 Lagos Women Run starts on Tuesday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

Coordinator of the annual event, Tayo Popoola, who stated this stressed that all was set for the exercise.
Popoola explained that it was important to create enough time for this to ensure the event starts promptly on Saturday at the Tafawa Balewa Square. Time is 7.am.

“Registered participants have three days to collect their kits while those who prefer to wear their own kits can also do so on Saturday.

“We understand that some people might not have the chance and that is why we are flexible about this,” Popoola said.

The 10km run holds on November 14.

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