Funke Busari, Ikeja, Lagos
Elections to occupy offices of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Lagos Council, on Thursday was stalled due to outcry by some members who decried possible disenfranchisement due to non-verification of their membership by the union.
Some aggrieved members who would have none of the narratives about why they could vote or not, a journalist, Mr. Lod Onyeji expressed displeasure over putting the election on hold after some rancours.
According to Onyeji, “As journalists, we are supposed to set the pace, we are supposed to be the ones telling the society what to do right, why in our election we can not even get it right?
Going down memory lane on how the election that brought the incumbent Chairman of NUJ, Dr. Qasim Akinreti into office, Mr. Onyeji queried why the chairmanship candidate could not organise a simple election.
In his words, “Dr. Qasim Akinreti has failed on this, because if Odusile did not organise election properly, he wouldn’t have been here.
Speaking at the Blue Roof venue of the election, Onyeji said he spoke with the Director General of Akinreti Campaign Team, Mr. Fibian Anawo, who he claimed explained to him that the development arose because they had 184 members in his full page check up dues, and that, only 24 were accredited to vote.
He said the question he asked the DG, was, “Did your 184 come for accreditation and verification? They could not answer, so why would you for that selfish sake, punish all of us here.”
“And for somebody like Dr. Akinreti who says he stands for integrity and all what not, he shouldn’t have allowed this to happen, he brought all of us out here and thrust.., (hissed) I don’t want to talk again.”
Earlier, obviously angered by the impasse, Mary Fatile, a journalist said that people were agitating that it is either they allow them to vote or there will be no more election.
She said, “If they’ve been deducting money from every chapel and now there is election and are saying people should not vote, it is not possible, you can not accredit some certain people and leave out others, it’s not done that way, why are they doing all this?”
Worried about some persons’ actions against the incumbent, before the election, Fatile said they refused to accredit those people.
Referencing those not accredited, she said, “For example, like The Guardian, The Nation, they are now coming out to say those people can not vote, why? That is why we are agitating, that it is either they allow them to vote because they’ve been paying their dues or there should not be election.
An observer of the election, Sylva Okereke, who was a former Secretary, NUJ Lagos Council and current National Trustee of the Union said a decision was made at the National Executive Council, NEC, due to complaint that there is quackery in the media industry and that there are fake journalists everywhere.
He explained, “What we agreed at the NEC is to do verification of membership in all the states, which we have started. We have done it in Ondo, Ogun and several states and that is what we also did in Lagos State and we verified members and those verified members are those we agreed we are going to do in the election, but fortunately or unfortunately we came today and somebody is saying that everybody that comes for today’s election must vote, where is that done?”
He added, “Even in Nigeria’s election, if you don’t come with your voters’ card they may not allow you, there’s a procedure for election, that is the procedure we applied today…, so every other thing will be decided by the National Secretariat, he said.
