By Emmanuel Afonne
The North Central Zone of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), has congratulated the newly-elected executive members of the FCT chapter of the association for emerging victorious at its elective congress held on Friday in Abuja.
The message was communicated in a statement jointly signed by the Zonal Vice President, Danmusa Mohammed, and Secretary, Abubakar Hassan.
They applauded members of the FCT SWAN for the maturity exhibited throughout the process and for reelecting Ndubueze Chidoka and Ikenna Okonkwo as Chairman and Secretary respectively.
The statement added that the reelection of the two Full Council members by Members of the chapter was an indication that they have performed well in their first tenure which paved the way for their emergence.
The Leadership of the North Central zone of the Association called on the new executive members to carry all members along and to also intensify efforts to reach out to the aggrieved members of the association who were misled to bring them back on track, but with caution.
It also urged members of the chapter to support the newly-elected officials to move the association to greater heights, as they can hardly achieve meaningful progress in the chapter without the support of all members.
The statement also called on all stakeholders and partners of SWAN in FCT to give the FCT SWAN leadership every necessary support and cooperation that would enable them to succeed.
It would be recalled that Ndubueze Chidoka, a sports manager with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), was re-elected the chairman of Sports SWAN FCT chapter.
The election which was supervised by the SWAN national body, led by Honour Sirawo, saw Chidoka defeating his opponent, Bumi Haruna of Nigeria Info, by 76-4 votes.
Also reelected was an Online Editor with Blueprint Newspapers, Ikenna Okonkwo, who returned as the Secretary.
Okonkwo polled 78 votes to defeat his rival Chris Onokpegu of The Hunters Magazine, who garnered only one vote, while Muhyideen Jimoh, a Sports Editor with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), emerged the Financial Secretary.
Jimoh got 77 votes to beat Omo Unubun of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) who picked three votes.
For the post of Vice Chairman, Salifu Usman of the Leadership Newspapers secured 78 votes to defeat Maxwell Nwachukwu who secured only two votes, while Albert Akota of Peoples Daily polled 76 votes to snatch the Assistant Secretary seat from Remi Solula of the Cable.
The Treasurer position went to Ayomide Makinde of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) who defeated Uche Nwudoh of Kiss FM 75-4.
Busayo Olowokere of the Nigeria Customs Broadcasting Network (NCBN) was elected unopposed with 80 votes to occupy the seat of Welfare Officer.
The newly-elected executive members were immediately sworn-in for a three-year tenure.
SWAN Vice President, South South, Bonny Nyong, Vice President North Central, Danmusa Mohammed, and Foster Chima, an ex officio, were the SWAN national officers who supervised the election.
However, a faction of SWAN members that abandoned the electoral process, organised themselves at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), and elected Bumi Haruna as Chairman, while all the failed contestants at the other election were elected.
NAN reports that the group, led by former Chairman of FCT SWAN, Kayode Adeniyi, protested the involvement of the Sirawo-led national SWAN leadership in the FCT election.
They also claimed that the SWAN Electoral Committee (SWANECO), led by Ezeocha Nze, was not transparent in the conduct of the election. (NAN)
Source: NAN News