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By Amaechi Agbo

No fewer than three chapters of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, have rejected the guidelines set out by the national body for the conduct of the forthcoming election into the national executive of the body, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

The wave of rejection emanated first from Lagos chapter followed by Edo and Kano who in their various communiques issued after their meetings, rejected the guidelines and appealed to the National Electoral Committee, NEC to revisit the guidelines and make it to fall within the statues of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ and SWAN, respectively.

In a communique signed by the Communique Drafting committee chairman, Femi Solaja Chairman, after its meeting on Friday, 6^th September,2019, Lagos SWAN also condemned the national president of the association, Honor Sirawo for using the Department of State Security Service to harass and intimidate members and commended the Secretary of the NEC for resigning from his position due to the contradiction of the electoral guidelines with the NUJ and SWAN constitutions.

“That we reject the Guidelines for the 2019 SWAN National Election as published by the SWANECO especially in with regards to:

a) Stipulated fees for the collection of forms which are excessive

b) The cumbersome process of screening which takes almost a week

c) The non specification of date and venue of the election

d) The requirement in Paragraph 6 for state chapter delegates to be approved by the National Secretariat which goes against democratic principles in that the Constitution of the NUJ and SWAN Statutes have clearly spelt out the eligibility of delegates and voters

e) The provision in Paragraph 11 which requires that candidates for the positions of President and Secretary General must have been or be members of the National Executive Council, in that the provision is at variance with Article 6(7)(c) of the NUJ Constitution and Article 13 (1) of the SWAN Statutes.

“That it commends the Chairman of SWANECO for resigning his position in disagreement with those provisions

That it urges the National Executive Council to amend the Electoral Guidelines in conformity with the provision of the NUJ Constitution and the SWAN Statutes.

“That it condemns the action the National President in petitioning members to the Directorate of State Services and the Police without due recourse to the internal mechanism for dispute resolution in the NUJ and SWAN

“That the SWAN NEC should urgently intervene on these issues with view to repositioning the electoral process on the path of decency and normalcy

That the NUJ should urgently intervene to check and abort the tendencies for tyranny and dictatorship in the institution of SWAN,” part of the communique read.

On its part, Edo SWAN Chapter also rejected the guidelines for violating the NUJ/SWAN constitutions and called on the NUJ to intervene on the matter.

“Congress rejected the guideline of the forth coming SWAN National Elections for not complying with SWAN statutes. Congress further reviewed the extant laws promulgated to regulate the conduct of elections into national offices of the body.

“Edo SWAN called on the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) which is the supervising body of SWAN to immediately intervene and save our noble association from destruction,” part of the communique signed by the Committee chairman, Hmeed Braimah, read on Friday.

Arising from a congress held on September 3^rd, 2019, the Kano State chapter of SWAN called on the national body not to derail from complying with the SWAN status as it hold election.

The point which was contained in paragraph 9 of the communique reads “Congress advises the national leadership of SWAN not to derail from complying with SWAN statues in the course of discharging its duties.

“Further, congressed reviewed the extant laws promulgated to regulate the conduct of elections into national offices of the body, the body agreed that the issues raised should be passed onto SWAN/NECO for consideration and possible amendments.”

As the election into the national executive of SWAN gathers momentum, members of the body are expectant as they await further communiques from other chapters including FCT and Port Harcourt, Rivers State.