By Faith Chondol
Thirty-two of 48 registered members of the Plateau State Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have rejected the purported inauguration of three officials, describing the process as unconstitutional.
The members, in a letter dated Aug. 13 and addressed to NUJ National President Alhassan Yahaya, rejected Douglas Francis of Arise TV as chairman, John Farinola as vice chairman and Comfort Pius as treasurer.
They said the three were inaugurated without an election and called on the NUJ national secretariat to intervene in the leadership crisis.
The dispute began after the Plateau State Council rejected and disqualified members of a credentials committee constituted by the chapel over issues concerning payment of lump-sum check-off dues, the members said.
An emergency congress later reconstituted the committee, but the members alleged that interference by the state council caused members of the committee and contestants in the election to resign.
They said Francis was left as the only contestant four days before the tenure of the incumbent executives expired on July 27.
After the expiration of the tenure, the state council appointed a three-member caretaker committee comprising former chapel chairpersons Tongnan Bawa, Yemi Kosoko and Isaac Shobayo.
The committee was given two weeks to organise an election and scheduled the exercise for Aug. 13, according to the members.
But they alleged that the committee instead inaugurated Francis, Farinola and Pius three days before the scheduled election, claiming that it had completed its assignment.
“Forms were not openly sold to interested members,” the group said in the letter.
The members also accused the state council of selectively applying provisions of the NUJ Constitution to the Correspondents’ Chapel while allegedly applying different standards to other chapels.
They said they had lost confidence in the state council’s ability to mediate or supervise the resolution of the dispute.
The members said they had therefore boycotted activities of the Plateau State Council pending intervention by the national secretariat.
They asked the national body to establish an independent committee to investigate the dispute and oversee a credible, transparent and constitutionally compliant resolution.
The group said the chapel currently had no substantive leadership and had appointed Shittu Tanko, Dickson Adama and Asile Emmanuel to coordinate its affairs pending resolution of the crisis.
They also asked the national secretariat to withdraw any leadership arrangement imposed without a valid election and order a fresh election for the chapel.
The members further requested a review of the eligibility of Pam Musa of New Telegraph to contest for vice chairman of the Plateau State Council.
They said they remained committed to democracy, fairness, transparency and due process and urged all parties to avoid actions that could further escalate the dispute.
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