Journalists in Lagos State on Thursday commended peaceful conduct of the Triennial Congress and Election of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos Council and called for a virile union.
The twice-postponed and once aborted Lagos State Council election held on Thursday, at D Blue Roof of the LTV 8, Ikeja where members across various chapels cast their votes.
Some members of the fourth estate of the realm, who spoke to NAN commended the process and call for healing of wounds by the executive members to take the union higher.
Mr Yinka Aderibigbe a Reporter with The Nation Newspapers described the process as fair and free, without any violence contrary to the fear of violence some people had about the election.
Aderibigbe said: “At the end of this process, we will definitely be having a more virile union, union leaders that know what unionism is all about. We will be having a union that really cares for the welfare of all its members.
“This principle of unionism is about collectivity and I believe that rising from this triennial congress, we should go back to begin to heal the wounds and to move the council forward.
“We need unity, we need oneness, we need one another irrespective of how this election has panned out.”
Mr Adesina Wahab, Education Editor, Vanguard Newspapers also commended the peaceful conduct of the poll, saying that there should be orderliness in the council.
According to him, there should be no winner, not loser and no victor, no vanquished.
Also speaking, Mr Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, said: “The process went well. The accreditation and voting were well organised and peaceful.
“For some time now, Lagos NUJ has been facing some crisis and hiccups here and there, this is the time to bond together. Whoever wins should carry everybody along.
“Let bygones be bygones, let the misgivings be put aside, we need to come together so as to be strong and continue to do the work and be shining examples to others.”
The Deputy Editor (News) of The Daily Sun Newspaper, Mr Nat Osewele said that the election was well organised and showed that journalists as watchdogs knew how to organise themselves.
“I love the orderliness and the peaceful atmosphere. We can see the comradeship in spite of the election. So, it is not a do or die affair. It is an improvement on the aborted election last time. It is a win win situation.
“Whoever wins should carry everyone along. This is really an election, it is a get together. it is a reunion for us. I don’t think there is anything to kill ourselves over unless we have ulterior motive. After this election, we should come together.”
Mrs Azizat Adagun, an Assistant Director, Programmes, Radio. Lagos/Eko FM also commended the peaceful conduct and cautioned against quarrel where the pendulum swang to.
“We should take election softly and trend softly as journalists. There shouldn’t be any quarrel among us. We should work together. so as to take the union to where the union is supposed to be,”
Mr Adekunle Yusuf, Associate Editor, The Nation Newspapers, who commended the peaceful conduct of the election, said he was not however impressed that the NUJ could not utilise ICT to conduct electronic voting.
Yusuf, who said that NUJ should be setting the pace, regretted that the out-gone Chairman, Dr Qasim Akinreti, who was recontesting in the election, came close to the venue in protest.
The editor, urged the winner to serve the interest of members.
Mr Emma Njoku, Deputy Sports Editor, The Sun Newspapers, who said that election were supposed to be an expression of the people’s wish, decried as unfortunate the situation that led to the botched election on Nov. 5.
“I am not happy about the reason for that disruption and I think it does not speak well of our union. We are supposed to be setting the pace.
He advised whoever won the election to right the wrongs in the profession.
Njoku added:”It will be very wrong for us not to practice discipline, professionalism and patrotism that we preach.
“Whoever emerges should embrace other contestants so that the contest ends here. Whether people vote for you or not, all of us must come together under one umbrella and chat the way forward.”
Mr Kola Olasupo, a member of the Credentials Committee and SSA to the the Lagos State Governor on Photography and Chairman, Lagos Chapter of Photo Journalists Association of Nigeria (PJAN) expressed satisfaction about the process, saying the election was well organised and coordinated.
Olasupo said that the winners should united all aggreived members, saying members should not harm or hurt one another after the election.
“I don’t want what happened during the Lanre Arogundade era when one member of the credentials committee was traced from Lagos here down to Ibadan and was killed.
“We should talk to ourselves, we should not be looking for trouble all the time. We have to unite ourselves and that is the only was we can move forward and this union can be greater.”
Also speaking, Mrs Iyabo Wale-Eri, a candidate for the post of Financial Secretary said: “We want to thank God at least it has finally come and it it moving gradually. We thank God, it is a good one. I just cast my vote.
When ask about the protest by the out-gone Chairman, Dr Qasim Akinreti and her staged earlier about the process, Wale-Eri said she was not protesting but only raising an observation.
She prayed God be in charge of the union and take control, adding that journalists in Lagos need better working environment, good leadership and better welfare.
According to her, the greatest challenges facing members of the fourth estate of the realm was the non recognition, which was due to quacks among journalists.
“Whoever emerges by the Grace of God should see that Lagos Journalists are placed in their right position,” she said.
Meanwhile, it would be recalled that some chapels had voted in the Nov. 5 election before the election was stopped abruptly due to what the Electoral Committee cited as “security reasons.”
The election, which was initially scheduled for Sept. 29, was postponed to Oct. 20, due to the planned nationwide strike of the Nigeria Labour Congress. It was similarly postponed for a second time due to the recent #EndSARS protests.
NAN reports that the tenure of the outgone executive had expired on Sept 29, 2020.