NUJ National Delegates Conference:  Aspirants pass vote of no confidence on Ikeogwu-led credentials committee

Omobolaji Adekunle 

Some aspirants who were displeased with the manipulations of the credentials committee set up to conduct election into the national officers of the union have passed vote of no confidence on Mike Ikeogwu led committee 

This came as a result of serious manipulations going on among the committee members to disqualify some aspirants who had earlier been screened successfully by the committee.

According to the joint statement by the concerned aspirants,”We are constrained to state categorically that the Credentials Committee which was set up outside the mandatory three months constitutional provisions, is far from being independent of the out-going President of the NUJ, Chris Isiguzo since its inauguration as it is being tele-guided and dictated to”. 

The statement stressed that this may have informed the situation of a violation of the election guidelines and timetable by the Credentials committee,which indicated that the final list of Candidates would be published on Wednesday,16th October, 2024 after claims and objections but has failed to do so; raising serious concern of manipulation.

It added that no  wonder, a member of the Credentials Committee on Friday, 18th October,2024  had to resign his membership of the Committee as a result of what he described as the manipulation of the committee to disqualify aspirants who are ordinarily qualified to contest the election based on the provisions of the Constitution and set guidelines by the Committee , ostensibly on the dictates of the President.

“Following the resignation of the member, the NUJ President had to put several calls to the committee member to rescind his decision to quit the committee”, the statement added.

The concerned aspirants said that It is disheartening to state that three members of the Committee, the Chairman, its Secretary,  and member who is the Chairman of Ondo Council always go to meet the President in his office to take directive on who to disqualify and not in keeping with the rules and provisions of the Constitution of the NUJ.

Thet said that this was just as the trio is the same members of the Committee calling on members of the Union to write and send in petitions against some targeted aspirants. 

“It is pathetic to state that the actions of the Mike Ikeogwu-led committee is plunging the union into avoidable crisis with its seeming manipulation to disqualify aspirants at all cost, to favour preferred aspirants through the back door at the expense of the overall good of the Union that is desirous of a leadership that would take the NUJ out of the abyss”, the statement added.

The concerned aspirants said that It is also regrettable that all petitions written against the favoured candidates of the President, particularly Abimbola Oyetunde and Alhassan Abdullahi were not tabled for discussion and adoption by the Committee ,contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and guidelines of the Committee.

According to the statement, a  case in question is of two petitions against Oyetunde on her eligibility to contest for the election being the General Manager of Bronze FM, Benin city, an FRCN outlet which is against the constitution of NUJ, and more importantly, that she was not attending the Congresses of Edo state council of NUJ in the last three years were out rightly jettisoned and not presented by the Chairman and Secretary of the Credentials Committee for deliberation and consideration.

Citing Article 6 (7) (F) states; “To qualify, an aspirant and the sponsor must have attended at least 50% of meetings of the State Council and Chapel within the period between Conferences, backed up with records of previous Union activities. For those on redeployment, records of their Union activities at their previous place of work and Council shall count in their favour.” the aspirants noted.

The concerned aspirants emphasised that unfortunately, the committee swept the two petitions under the carpet on the directive of the outgoing president of the NUJ. 

The statement revealed that, the committee which wrote State Councils to submit their customized attendance registers for Council Congress meetings, bluntly refused to collect those of favoured Councils and or preferred candidates in order not to expose their inability to meet with the Constitutional provision, rather the customized attendance of Abia, Edo, Kogi, and Lagos were not received and or collected by the Committee thus, not perused by members of the Committee, but the same Committee Chairman and Secretary are busy mounting pressure on other State Councils where perceived opponents of the preferred candidates of the President to send in their customized registers such as Ogun, Delta, Kaduna, Abuja, Kwara, and Nasarawa Councils. 

The concerned aspirants were surprised that the outgoing president of the NUJ directed some Council leaders (with warning of suspension if they fail to comply), to deny some candidates the copies of documents submitted to back their nomination forms, and at the same time directed the Credential Committee to disqualify affected aspirants. A case in point is the Secretary of Ogun Council of the NUJ, Mr Bunmi Adigun, who issued and signed the practicing fee receipt for Mr Wole Shokunbi, an aspirant for the office of Deputy National President, but was directed to deny issuing the receipt with a warning that failure to do so, he will be removed from office as Council Secretary, which he had to succumb.

They said that they are also aware of the underhand of the President in the cooked up petitions at targeted aspirants even as they had been granted provisional clearance.

According to the statement, the aspirants  had been very skeptical about the composition of the screening and credentials committee since it was inaugurated because the President had manipulated and influenced the selection of the members across the six zones and turned around and directed the Vice Presidents of the Zones to concur at the time of inauguration. 

A case in point was Mr Sola Oladapo, the Secretary of Oyo State Council, who emerged as the preferred Representative of the Zone, through voting by the leadership of Zone ‘B’ at its zonal meeting in Osogbo, Osun state on the 8th of August, 2024 but was rejected by the President, after the virtual meeting he later held with zonal leaders of Zone ‘B’ the same day after reading the communique of the Zone and directed them to replace the name with Leke Adegbite, Chairman of Ondo Council which they obliged.

The stament further explained that such happenings may have been responsible for the action of  members that had resorted  to going to Court to challenge the illegality being masterminded, perpetuated and making it  the norm in the NUJ. Under the present leadership , the NUJ has been taken to Court five good times namely; Benue, Ogun which went twice, Kwara and the present case before the National Industrial Court challenging some  constitutional breaches and illegalities.

Based on the foregoing and other well thought out issues, the aspirants for the scheduled Owerri, Imo Triennial Conference of the NUJ, hereby individually and collectively, pass A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE on the Credentials Committee as its members have displayed crass incompetence, favouritism, lack of transparency and fairness, and total submission of their Constitutional mandate to the out-going president, which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, particularly Article 6(7)(F) of the NUJ Constitution by allowing itself to be directed and manipulated through the process of the scheduled election which has casted doubt on the credibility of the outcome of the final list, as displayed by it, as its action   will also bring its image into disrepute. 

They therefore insist and call that the Credentials Committee be disbanded and Chairmen and secretaries of Councils be allowed to take-over the election process and conduct a free, fair and acceptable election as against a tele-guided work which has failed credibility test.