The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter, said the Patrick Osadebamwen-led Executive boycotted election seeking to usher in new executives.
The chapter’s election was scheduled for Wednesday 4th December, 2024, with Mrs Grace Ike being the only candidate vying for the championship position.
In a twist of events, the outgoing executives led by Patrick Osadebamwen were absent during the business session where the executive ought to have been dissolved.
Against this backdrop, the former secretary of the Correspondent Chapel, Mr Ubong Ukpong moved a motion that the Credentials Committee be stopped from conducting the elections until the Patrick-led executive is dissolved.
Ukpong argued that conducting an election that will usher in new executives while the old executives had not been dissolved would be an arbitration to the Union’s constitution.
The motion which was seconded by Mr Osisam Edeh received popular support from the journalists, as they were heard shouting “yes yes yes”.
In the absence of a counter motion, the National Union represented by its Vice President, Zone D, Adeiza Momojimo, called for a motion for the formal dissolution of the Patrick-led executive.
Prior to that, Adeiza Momojimo disclosed that Patrick had earlier sent a message bidding farewell and acknowledging today’s election.
The motion was ably moved by Haruna Salami and seconded by Mrs Uzor Amaka. Thereafter, Mr Momojimo pronounced, “In the absence of counter motion, “The executives led by Patrick stand formally dissolved”.
Spark News Daily reports that voting is ongoing with NTA, VON and Ministry of Information Chapels having voted.
Meanwhile, in a telephone chat, Patrick Osadebamwen said the Credentials Committee was not constituted in accordance with the constitutions.
“I do not believe the Credentials Committee was constituted in line with the constitution of the Union”.
According to him, the National secretariat ignored series of calls that some members of the Henry Umoru-led Credentials Committee were not qualified.
However, Henry Umoru, while speaking during the Manifesto held yesterday, said, “In 2012 I conducted the NUJ FCT election, they said I was a journalist, in 2018, I did the same, and they said I was a journalist, but in 2024, they are saying I’m not a journalist.’
Giving clarification on Umoru’s statement, Mr Patrick said, “Everyone can be a journalist, but not everyone is a member of the Union”.
