By Janet Audu
The Correspondent chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Taraba State has suspended three of its members for violating the directive of the National Secretariat of NUJ which suspended all union activities owing to the COVID 19 pandemic.
The trio are Sani Sulaiman of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ben Adaji of New Telegraph and Magaji Hunkuyi of Daily Trust Newspapers.
It could be recalled that they had in a briefing at the state Secretariat of the NUJ disclosed that 18 of the 25 members of the union passed a vote of no confidence on the sitting executive.
They also claimed that two of the sitting executive had also resigned their appointments to join their “rebellion” group.
But in an emergency congress meeting at the Secretariat of the Correspondents Chapel in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, the executive of the union led by Wole Emmanuel Ayodele of ThisDay Newspapers announced the suspension of the trio.
The Congress was attended by 14 members of the chapel, including the two sitting executive members who they claimed to have resigned their positions as Auditor and Vice Chairman.
In a swift reaction, the incumbent Chairman of the chapel, Comrade Wole Emmanuel Awodele, who addressed the press said, “They claimed we have 25 members in the Correspondent Chapel but our record shows that we only have 24 registered members.
“They also claimed 19 members signed a dissolution of the present executive including the Vice Chairman and the Auditor who they said resigned their positions but as you can see, the two executive who they claimed resigned are here with us and we have in total 14 of the 24 registered members of the chapel here.
“Our tenure will end in June. We know they are scared of the forthcoming elections because they don’t have the members’ support to win hence they resorted to falsehood. Besides, the National Secretariat of the NUJ had directed the suspension of all union activities, but we are in awe as to why those that are supposed to be informed are bereft of simple instructions from the National body of NUJ.”
Also reacting, the Auditor of the union, Attanatious Okerafor of Daily Times Newspapers refuted the reports of his resignation, saying, “whatever they said I did was in absentia and nobody can speak for me in my absence.
“I am still an executive member of this chapel and I disown whoever is claiming alliance with me to cause trouble in our union. I got a call a night before from some of my colleagues that I should tender a resignation letter which I did not.
“I am surprised why those that are so hungry for power would frame me for something like this.”
Worried by the development, Janet Audu of Daily Independent Newspapers, expressed disappointment over the action of some of her colleagues, who according to her, behaved like rebels.
Her words: “I am standing here to counter the earlier press briefing by a faction of the chapel. We are all aware that the tenure of the exco is expiring in June and they are considering setting up a committee to conduct election, I plead with members who are interested to contest should hold their peace until the committee is put in place. You don’t need to blackmail the exco before you become a leader. All the allegations they raised are baseless and do not hold water. The briefing they held is not in the interest of the chapel and the NUJ as a whole and should therefore be disregarded in its entirety by all Tarabans because factionalization is a threat to all unions.”
She further stated that the Wole-led exco has done well in its tenure, describing it as the best sets of excos in the history of Correspondent chapel in the state.
Our Correspondent reports that a copy of the letter addressed to the state chapter of NUJ conveying the suspension of the trio, which was signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the Correspondents Chapel, Wole Ayodele of ThisDay; and Justin Tyopuusu of Punch Newspapers, respectively, was also copied to the National President of NUJ and National Vice President, Zone E.