The Acting National President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Sydney Sparrow has blamed the deepening leadership crisis in the association on what he described as gross violations of PMAN’s constitution, insisting that the dispute goes far beyond a controversial Abuja property.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, Sparrow said the association’s core mandate had been overshadowed by a fixation on land, while constitutional procedures governing leadership and accountability were repeatedly breached.
“PMAN is not just about the property in Abuja. PMAN has a core mandate — regulation of the music industry in Nigeria and welfare for musicians. But everything I heard was land, land, land,” he said.
Sparrow explained that the crisis escalated following actions taken by the immediate past president, Pretty Okafor, whom he described as a “suspended president,” contrary to claims made by Okafor.
According to him, Okafor was elected at the National Delegate Conference on October 24, 2023, but constitutional violations soon followed.
“The National Delegate Conference is the highest conference, but it is not a statutory body. The statutory body is the National Executive Council (NEC), because the conference holds once in four years,” Sparrow said.
He stressed that the National Working Committee (NWC)has no power to act independently of the NEC.
“The constitution says the National Working Committee shall report all its activities to the NEC. The NEC must ratify any suspension before it is announced,” he said.
Sparrow said Okafor was out of the country in Spain when his own NWC announced his suspension in August 2024, an action he said was unconstitutional.
“We saw a letter suspending the PMAN president. The constitution doesn’t allow that. The NEC cancelled it, so he remained president at that time,” he said.
The acting president accused Okafor of sidelining elected officials who disagreed with him.
“If you have a contrary opinion to whatever he says, you become his enemy. He takes you out of the NEC platform,” Sparrow said.
He cited the cases of the PMAN Governor of Kano State and the elected National Treasurer, both of whom were allegedly removed from NEC platforms without due process.
“The PMAN Governor of Kano was out of the NEC platform for almost a year. The elected National Treasurer was also removed by the same person,” he said.
Sparrow said the NEC later exercised its constitutional powers to suspend three NWC members for 12 months, creating vacancies that required a Special National Delegate Conference, which he said was agreed to hold in October 2025.
“We agreed to use it to fill the vacant seats and celebrate his two years in office. Surprisingly, he started dodging. He didn’t want it to happen,” Sparrow said.
According to Sparrow, the crisis worsened when Okafor allegedly made unilateral appointments without NEC approval.
“Without approval of the NEC, he appointed a first vice president, second vice president and an ex-officio, and brought them into NEC meetings, while removing an elected National Treasurer,” he said.
He described the actions as “gross violation of the PMAN constitution.”
Addressing claims that the crisis was solely about PMAN’s Abuja land, Sparrow said the issue predated the current leadership and was discussed during the 2023 delegate conference.
“We were told the JV agreement was 60–40 — 60 per cent for the developer and 40 per cent for PMAN. We thought it was fair,” he said.
However, Sparrow said concerns arose when NEC members eventually obtained the joint venture document.
“We discovered that out of the 40 per cent meant for PMAN, 10 per cent was to go to a so-called technical company,” he said.
Quoting directly from the agreement, Sparrow said:
“The landowner has agreed that 10 per cent of the 40 per cent of PMAN shall go to the technical company of the landowner.”
He questioned the legitimacy of the arrangement.
“Who is the technical company? We don’t know. The name is not in the JV. In what meeting did PMAN agree to this? They should provide the minutes,” he said.
Sparrow said repeated requests for an NEC meeting to address the matter were ignored, forcing members to invoke constitutional provisions for an emergency meeting.
“The president refused to call NEC meetings. The year was ending, and we had to invoke the constitution to hold an emergency meeting,” he said.
He confirmed that following the meeting, he was appointed Acting National President of PMAN.
“As we speak, I am the acting national president,” Sparrow said.
Boluwatife Enome
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