Kaduna NUJ Affirms Suspension of 4 SWAN Officials for Flouting National Secretariat Directive
By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna
The Kaduna State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has affirmed the suspension of four of her members who flaunted the directive given by the national secretariat of the Union stopping them from participating at just concluded Triennial Conference of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) that took place in Port Harcourt and Abuja.
The council in a communique issued at the end of an emergency congress held on Wednesday, 16th October, 2019 at the state Secretariat, signed by the council Secretary, Comrade John Femi Adi, stated that the four members; Isaiah Benjamin of Leadership Newspapers; Abdulraheem Aodu of Blue Print Newspapers , Jacob Dickson of New Nigerian Newspapers and Zakari Isa of Kaduna State Media Corporation, has been suspended indefinitely.
According to the communique, “after careful deliberations, the Congress resolved as follows: that the four members of the Kaduna State Council were warned not to attend the SWAN elections slated for Abuja and Port Harcourt in the last Congress. That NUJ Kaduna State Council has no alternative than to respect and obey the directives on those who disobeyed the NUJ National Secretariat directives.
“That the Council has also accepted and recognised the suspension of Isaiah Benjamin, Abdulraheem Aodu, Jacob Dickson and Zakari Isa by Kaduna SWAN.
“That a seven-man Caretaker Committee has been set up to steer the activities of Kaduna SWAN. That the Caretaker Committee will be headed by Mr. Jacob Zango of Kaduna State Media Corporation as Supervisor and Abdulwaheed Adubi as Secretary pending when they will organize an election within 90 days.” It added.
The communique further said, “before the commencement of the congress, the Chairman ,Comrade Adamu Yusuf ordered Mr. Isaiah Benjamin and Jacob Dickson out of the hall because, they have disqualified themselves to be part of the meeting by aligning themselves with Port-Harcourt SWAN Triennial delegates conference and in their words ” Divorced ” themselves as NUJ Affiliated SWAN members.
“The Chairman, Comrade Adamu Yusuf told members that the Congress was called to affirm the directives of the NUJ National Secretariat on those who disobeyed the order and attended the Port Harcourt and Abuja SWAN Delegates conference.
“The Congress was presented with the three letters from the NUJ Secretariat which were issued on the directive of the National Secretariat stopping the the SWAN factions from holding their congresses until the contentious issues were resolved.”
