SWAN Dissociates Self From Awards Night

The Sports Writers As
sociation of Nigeria (SWAN) says it has nothing to do with an awards night being organised by a group in Lagos.
A statement by the association’s Secretary-General, Olawale Alabi, on Monday said the group was an illegal contraption unknown to SWAN and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Tidesports reports that the group had severally claimed to be either the Guild of Sports Editors or the League of Sports Editors.
It had also claimed to be working in partnership with SWAN on an awards night tagged “Night of Excellence’’ and billed for Lagos on Tuesday.
“SWAN completely dissociates itself from such a group and the individuals behind it, as the association has not endorsed any such group to give awards to members of the public.
“We see the group’s activity as an attempt to frisk some individuals of their hard-earned resources and cast the sports journalism family in bad light,’’ Alabi said.
SWAN said NUJ, the umbrella body for all journalists in Nigeria, does not recognise such group and it had earlier asked the group to stop all activities related to the event.
“We therefore call on members of the public to be wary of such groups who use the name of SWAN and sports journalism to dupe unsuspecting personalities, all in the name of giving frivolous awards,’’ Alabi said.