The election of the Nigerian Union of Journalists Oyo state chapter may be postponed
The electoral committee in a statement said the consiered the action suitable not only to protect their integrity but to demonstrate that NUJ in Oyo State comprises of law abiding citizens who all have regards for our judicial system and constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
PRESS RELEASE
From the beginning of the work of the credentials committee constituted to conduct election into various offices in NUJ Oyo State Council, we have promised to abide by the constitution of the union to ensure we conduct a free, fair and credible election . We have never for once derailed and all our activities have been in line with the provision of the constitution. In fact, we had never have a cause to review our timetable as every activity has been in order.
The whole exercise started with collection and submission of nomination forms which was followed by screening that contestants confirmed was thorough.
The report of the screening was forwarded to the National Secretariat of the union in line with the provision of the law. After some weeks, the National Secretariat released the final results which we have reservations for, but, since there is no constitutional provision to query the results, we accepted it and had pasted the names of the cleared candidates in line with our timetable.
However, the major obstacle now is the membership list. It is essential to note that one of the major determinants of a credible election is voters list. There are 3 stages every member of the union is expected to pass through in the process of renewing their membership. Payment of practicing fee of N5,000, capturing of data, which would lead to issuance of ID card and screening of members by National Screening Committee.
The first batch of the capturing exercise had earlier been done before the inauguration of our committee. The implication is that some members had earlier paid, captured and had gotten their ID cards. However, during the capturing, there were some members who had paid the practicing fees but missed the exercise but were promised that there would be another chance before the election.
However, till now the capturing exercise has not seen the light of the day while the National Screening Committee had screened all.
The membership list assumed to have been generated from the report of the National Screening Committee forwarded to the Credentials Committee by the National has led to another set of arguments.
We discovered that 3 categories of people are on the list.
1. Those who have paid practicing fee of N5,000, have been captured and have the union’s ID card.
2. Those who have paid practicing fee of N5,000 but have not been captured and definitely have no union’s ID card.
3. Those who have not paid practicing fee of N5,000, have definitely not been captured and certainly do not have the union’s ID card.
No doubt, we don’t have issues with those that fall on the first category as they have successfully passed through all the membership renewal registration processes but what about the other 2 categories? During an interaction with the National Secretariat, it was stated that for the second category of those who had paid but had not been captured, their office ID cards could be used to identify them but the fate of the third category was not addressed.
The second category had met the constitutional provision of practicing fee but under what provision will the last category be eligible to vote? Article 4 (2a) says ” A member shall be disqualified from acting as a delegate or representative of a chapel at any meeting of the union or from benefitting from the union in any other manner if his check-off and practicing fees have not been fully paid”. Article 5E (1b) also corroborates the earlier position. “Members to the State Conference shall be drawn from Chapels within the particular state and such members must be in good financial standing” This prompted the Credentials Committee to forward a formal letter to the National Secretariat on the subject matter so as to get clear directive on what to do. The letter was forwarded to the National Secretariat on Friday, 13th December and 48 hours to the election, there is no response yet.
Another hindrance to complete our work is the authenticity of the final list. It will be recalled that 3 years ago, the Credentials Committee headed by Alhaji Nafiu Busari did a perfect job of thorough screening of members that participated in the election in line with the constitution.
However, since National Screening Committee has been in place that is why our committee has been silent on the area. However, the final list of members to be used for the election has also generated many dusts. There were petitions on the list and were forwarded to the National Secretariat. Following the inability of the National Secretariat to address the issues raised in the petitions, the committee decided to go through the list since it’s still within the responsibilities of the committee as enshrined in the constitution. Again, we should bear it in mind that members of the committee are not strangers as we belong to 5 chapels under NUJ Oyo State Council.
These are our observations on the list:
1. Those that are professional qualified and attended the screening are omitted.
2 Those who are not professionally qualified are included.
3. Those that are artistes and contract staff are there including those that had earlier submitted a letter that they were no longer members of the union.
4. Those that did not attend the screening exercise are there one of such is a contract staff whom many members know is still on a sick bed.
Our further investigation confirmed from the National Screening Committee that the list has been compromised affirming all our observations!
It should be noted that the last election in 2016 which is regarded as the best in the recent time was not because of the conduct of members on the day of the exercise but because of the credibility of the voters list. What had characterized NUJ elections in the past was paddling of voters list with fake members. Since there was a breakthrough 3 years ago, it would be absurd now that we are expected to have greatly improved that we are now going back to our old vomits.
Therefore, going on with this election with the padded membership list will never bring out free, fair and credible election, which we had earlier promised and vowed to uphold. Such exercise will tarnish our image, soil our integrity, dent our dignity and make us a laughing stock in the public. It’s unfortunate that journalists that are expected to be models are those found wanting in electoral malpractices. It’s indeed a shame and expectedly this should be investigated for further actions .
Meanwhile, as we were at the point of calling the National NUJ to postpone the election to address the abnormalities observed, we received a document of interlocutory court processes last Friday served on the Union as a whole and the Credentials Committee in particular praying for the restraint in the conduct of the election coupled with other injunctive reliefs.
Though, there have been various interpretations of the document, but the lawyers consulted advised us to tarry with the continuation of the electoral processes to avoid contempt of court, more so that the name of the chairman of the credentials committee, Prince Semiu Azeez is among the defendants. Again, since Friday when the National had been briefed and even part of the documents forwarded there, there has not been any clear cut decision from their end, perhaps, they are also involving in consultations.
Though we don’t have the right as the National NUJ does but as a result of the court directive coupled with the fact that time is no longer on our side as today is scheduled for manifesto, we have no option than to postpone the election. It is however our belief that every stakeholder in the process will help in projecting good image of our noble profession, Journalism and of our union, NUJ as the not only the watchdog but also the mirror of our society.
The committee considered this action suitable not only to protect our integrity but to demonstrate that NUJ in Oyo State comprises of law abiding citizens who all have regards for our judicial system and constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thanks.
Prince Semiu Azeez
Chairman.
Alh. Ridwan Fasasi,
Secretary,
Pastor Ola Ajayi,
Member,
Alhaji Abdur-Rofih Adebayo,
Member.
Mrs Olunike Ajayi,
Member.
