OSOGBO BOOK CLUB ASKS MEMBERS TO
BOYCOTT SWANA FIESTA
The Osogbo Book Club, a literary
body under Osun ANA has officially informed her members and other writers in
Osun State to boycott the 2022 Edition of SWANA Fiesta describing the
organization and the event as unconstitutional, felonious and illegitimate.
Osogbo Book Club made its position
known through a press statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, calling on
its members and writers in Osun State to boycott the event.
Osogbo Book Club also distanced
itself from partaking in the scheduled programme aim at covering the past
mistakes and shame of some certain individuals in the Association.
Parts of the statement read, “There
is no provision for a regional body in the ANA Constitution. SWANA is not in
the ANA Constitution. You can download ANA Constitution here https://www.ananigeria.org/files/ANA_Constitution_2012.pdf
to confirm this claim. SWANA Contributed 80% of the problems we are
witnessing in ANA today. It was the same SWANA who brought Maiwada to Ekiti and
honoured him with an award he did not deserve. They brought Maiwada to unsettle
the peace we enjoy in ANA. The Northern Writers Summit in which Maiwada is a
staunch and strong member did not honor him with any award or support his ANA
Presidential ambition. Then why SWANA? It’s no more news that the duo of
Muriola Awosemo and Abiodun Oloyede have lost grip of ANA Osun, to them,
bringing SWANA to Osun is the only way they can restore the grip. Muriola
Awosemo and Abiodun Oloyede are staunch supporters of Maiwada and they did not
hide this.”
"As we are speaking, ANA
President, Camillus Ukah is not aware of any SWANA FIESTA. Since they are not
recognized by the ANA Constitution, the organizers of SWANA should stop using
ANA Logo as their official logo. The Northern Writers Summit has its own logo,
same thing with the South South Writers Union and other regional writers
bodies."
“On the Chairmanship of ANA Osun,
Bunyamin Sijuwade Zakariyah is the recognized and authentic Chairman of ANA
Osun, this can be confirmed via ANA Website through this link, https://www.ananigeria.org/chapters-contact. The
name “Segun Ajiboye” is alien to us in ANA Osun. Bunyamin Sijuwade Zakariyah
recently represented ANA Osun in the just concluded ANA’s Chairmen and
Secretaries Meeting held in Ilorin and was given Yusuf Ali Grant to organize
literary activities in Osun State. To confirm, check these links: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/in-ilorin-ana-kickstarts-2022-reading-campaign/,
https://thenationonlineng.net/authors-meet-in-ilorin-discuss-developmental-literature/.
“
“To us in Osogbo Book Club, SWANA is
a failure. An outfit of over five years that cannot boast of publishing an
anthology or organizing a creative writing workshop for up and coming writers
in Southwest. The only thing they do is to eat and drink.”
"We are calling on security
agencies to take note of anyone trying to use the name of ANA to instigate
crisis in Osun state. People should be properly guided and not allow themselves
to be scammed. A word is enough for the wise."
On a final note, Osogbo Book Club
believed ANA Osun is not a property of some selfish individuals who believed
it’s their fundamental right to impose those who are incapable of making any
change or transforming the literary space of the state. Such imposition is now
a story of the past.
