By Segun Giwa
The Sport Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Ondo State Chapter, was thrown into chaos on Thursday as the immediate Chairman of the Executive Council, Wahab Bankole, attempted to extend his tenure by seeking to become the chair of a caretaker committee that was about to be constituted.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the tenure of the executive expired in May and fresh elections were fixed for Oct. 27.
The Zonal Vice President, Mr Ajayi Obe, later announced that the polls were placed on hold on the grounds of a petition received from one of the chairmanship aspirants, Mr Michael Akintunde.
However, at a special congress of the association on Thursday, members unanimously agreed that the former executive council led by Bankole be dissolved and sought the institution of a caretaker committee to conduct fresh elections.
Based on members wish, the executive council was subsequently dissolved by Obe, the Zonal Vice President Obe.
He, however, informed the members that the fresh elections would not hold due to the petition he received from Akintunde.
Following the inability to hold fresh elections, there was a move to select a caretaker committee.
Tempers, however, flared when the immediate past chairman, Bankole, was nominated to become the chairman of the interim committee by the petitioner, Akintunde.
The nomination immediately led to a revolt by members who demanded that Bankole should not be part of the interim committee.
The refusal of the Zonal Vice President Ajayi to step down Bankole’s nomination led to chaos, as aggrieved members stormed out of the venue to avoid a bloody clash.
NAN reports that the development has left a vacuum in the state chapter of the association, with no executives or a caretaker committee in place to steer the affairs of the group.
Some of the members called on the public to await further decision from the national secretariat of the association on the composition of a new caretaker committee to run affairs of Ondo SWAN.
A member nominated to work with the proposed caretaker committee, Joseph Adesuyan, rejected the offer, saying, “I can’t work with the former chairman on moral grounds.”
Also, another aggrieved member, Abiodun Taiwo, complained said that the election was postponed based on a petition which content was not made available to the congress.
“Why would the vice president be relying on a petition not made available either to the Credentials Committee, the congress, or the affected contestants?
“We are in a democratic set-up and the wish of the majority of congress members should carry the day,“ he said.
Another member, Akintunde Jacob, said that it had never happened before that an executive would be dissolved and the immediate chair would be reinstated immediately through “the backdoor“.
Jacob said that if the immediate chairman wanted to test his popularity, he should simply come of his shells and contest the election instead of using a stooge.
Some members urged the wife of the Ondo State Governor, Mrs Betty Akeredolu, not to honour the letter of an award sent to her office by the dissolved executive. (NAN)
