The Executive Committee of Lagos Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) has voiced out its displeasure with the interference from the National Body of SWAN in the ongoing electoral process in the chapter.
The Executive Committee of Lagos SWAN led by Ambassador Olatutu Oladunni released a press statement dated 1 October 2025 to intimate the public about the complaints it received from the Electoral Committee (SWANECO) put in place to organize the chapter’s which has been scheduled for 9 October 2025.
“The SWANECO chairman, Sir Victor Eyinnaya, has in its formal complaint received by the State Exco, recounted receiving unwarranted direct phone calls from the national president, Benjamin Isaiah and secretary general, Ikenna, dishing out unconstitutional instructions via letters in contravention to the electioneering guidelines and time table issued by the committee with intention to compromise the forthcoming Lagos chapter forthcoming election in favour of their tendencies,” the Lagos SWAN Executive Committee said in a statement signed by both the chairman, Oladunni and the Secretary, Omotunde Bello.
The press statement is produced below for record purposes.
PRESS RELEASE AGAINST THE NATIONAL SECRETARIAT ON UNWARRANTED ELECTORAL INTERFERENCE & USURPATION OF SWANECO COMMITTEE DUTIES IN THE FORTHCOMING LAGOS CHAPTER ELECTIONS DELIVERED BY THE CHAPTER EXCO DATED 1ST OCTOBER 2025
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The attention of the exco has been drawn to the complaint of Electoral Committee (SWANECO) against National Secretariat , particularly, from the national president, Mr Benjamin Isaiah and secretary general, Ikenna Okonkwo respectively, on their series of unwarranted and unconstitutional interference,pressure, meddling and usurpation of statutory duties of SWANECO Committee by impeding and sabotaging SWANECO effort in conducting the Lagos chapter forthcoming election.
The SWANECO chairman, Sir Victor Eyinnaya, has in its formal complaint received by the State Exco, recounted receiving unwarranted direct phone calls from the national president, Benjamin Isaiah and secretary general, Ikenna, dishing out unconstitutional instructions via letters in contravention to the electioneering guidelines and time table issued by the committee with intention to compromise the forth coming Lagos chapter forthcoming election in favour of their tendencies.
The Chairman of the SWANECO, Sir Victor Enyinnaya, said he was constraint to make the complaint to formally document the undue interference by the two national officers and to alert SWAN members of the glaring Usurpation and interference from Isaiah Benjamin and ikenna Okonkwo.
We condemn in serious terms the unwarranted interference and usurpation of the SWANECO’s duties by the national president ,Isaiah Benjamin and secretary general Ikenna Okonkwo as not only unconstitutional, it’s ultra vires of their powers as contains in the registered swan statute specifically Articles 12 and 16 of the SWAN Statute which confers powers on the state chapter to set up Swaneco and summon Congress to ratify the Swaneco appointment.
It’s on record that the Congress of 17 September 2025 reached a conclusion to enlarged the composition of the 3-man Electoral Committee to 5-man Committee with the mediation moderated by a respected elder and senior colleague and other several people in line with Articles 12 and 16 of the SWAN registered statute
It’s surprising that the National President, Benjamin Isaiah and his Secretary General, in their leaked letter to SWANECO wrote to overrule some aspects of resolutions reached at the Congress, nullifying the activities of SWANECO prior to 17 September.
This high level of absurdity is taking in bad faith and we see this as abnormal
The SWANECO chairman also frown at the situation where official correspondence from the President and his Secretary General to the SWANECO has been consistently leaked to the public place even before he as the chairman or the Secretary received such correspondence.
The national president’s claim of a purported complaint from two members of SWANECO namely was not only unfounded, it was a ploy to factionalize and fractured the SWANECO in delivering on its mandate of conducting a free and fair election which is unacceptable and hereby rejected
The Executive Committee is taken aback to hear that two newly appointed members of the SWANECO during the last Congress would write a petition to the President concerning the activities of the Committee, only for the President and his Secretary General to rush into writing a letter on this, even when he was not aware of the petition nor being carried along by the so-called writers of the petition who he and other members of the committee have been having meeting with.
And to set the record straight , no formal letter of complaint was channeled to the state Exco by the two newly appointed Members neither do the State Exco received any notification form the zone and national secretariat in that regards.
The Executive Committee of Lagos SWAN would like to call the attention of our credible and respectful Elders in the Association to caution the executive recklessness of both the President Isaiah Benjamin and his Secretary General Ikenna Okonkwo, so that they would not use their ulterior motives and agenda to plunge Lagos SWAN into an endless crisis that would even outlive their tenure in office.
This is a State Election and we found it very hard to see how the President and the Secretary General will be displaying open biases, partiality and gross violations of extant rules. We have not seen a situation where the rules of the game would be constantly manipulated in the course of a crucial game.
The SWANECO chairman in his complaints further referenced how Mr Isaiah Benjamin had questioned, reprimanded him for accepting the appointment as chairman SWANECO and pressured him to resign his position as chairman SWANECO, which is a proof of Mr. Isaiah Benjamin’s deliberate intention to sabotage SWANECO in discharging its functions.
This impunity and one-sided activities in the guise of upholding the Statute of the association must stop.
