The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) has inaugurated a seven member electoral committee to plan and conduct election into various offices of the National Body of the Association.
Inaugurating the committee at a special delegate conference of the Association at Hotel Reno in Abuja at the early hours of Tuesday, the National President of the Association, Mr. Honour Sirawoo urged the committee to use the SWAN statutes as its working document for the election, saying they should not hesitate to disqualify anybody who fall short of the provisions in the SWAN statutes.
He also urged the electoral committee to conduct the election as soon as possible, adding that he wanted the election to have taken place two months before the expiration of his tenure but for financial constraints which was made worse by the Nigerian elections.
Mr. Sirawoo also said that SWAN under his leadership had fared well and appealed to all members to support the drive for a different SWAN so that they can handover to the next generation a SWAN which all will be proud of.
The delegates bearing in mind that the tenure of the current leadership of the Association will end on 13th July, 2019 granted the leadership of the Association an extension in office until the electoral committee concludes its arrangements and conduct new election into various offices within the next three months.
In their separate remarks, the former National President and Deputy National President of the Association, Saidu Abubakar and Sunday Ogele said they appreciated the way the Association was moving and urged all members to support the current leadership to move SWAN to greater heights.
They added that they were interested only in having a 21 century SWAN which everyone should be proud of, hence the rationale behind the ongoing SWAN statutes review and called on members to assist the Statutes review committee to come out with a document that stands the test of time.
In his response, the Chairman of the electoral committee, Yusuf Isah promised to conduct a free and fair election that will not only be credible but also acceptable by all.
The committee consists of Yusuf Isah as Chairman and Gabriel Nwantanya as Secretary, while Isaiah Benjamin, Ikenna Okonkwo, Alh. Kabiru Jalingo, Jasper Okoro and Olaolu Fawole make up the rest membership of the committee.