For allegedly violating certain provisions of its 2023 constitution (as amended), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has been dragged before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja Division.
The case is instituted by Mr Abdulwaheed Olayinka Adubi, a bona fide member of the Union who intends to participate in the eighth (8th) Triennial National Delegates Conference holding in Owerri, the Imo State capital in November 2024.
Adubi said the NUJ National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on 9th August 2024 does not have the powers to extend the Central Working Committee (CWC) members’ tenure that would effectively expire on 6th October 2024.
In his claims, the petitioner relied on Article 5(a)(3) of NUJ Constitution which states thus: “The Triennial National Delegates’ Conference shall be held every three (3) years at venues to be decided by the NEC for the purposes of:
(a). Receiving and reviewing reports and accounts;
(b). Revising the Constitution if and when necessary;
(c). Deciding on questions of general policy raised upon notice by any member, Chapel or Council to the National Executive Council through the National Secretariat of the Union;
(d). Electing National Officers of the Union.
The current CWC members led by Chris Isiguzo were elected on 7th October 2021 with a three year tenure mandate which lapses on 6th October 2024.
According to Adubi, the tenure elongation orchestrated by Isiguzo, who is also a respondent in the matter, represents a gross abuse of the NUJ Constitution.
The averments filed by the Claimant’s counsel, Mr Ibrahim Bawa (SAN), posited that tenure elongation was not only alien to the NUJ Constitution but also a self-induced constitutional crisis by the Isiguzo led CWC members to perpetuate themselves in office.
The claimant, a practicing journalist based in Kaduna, is praying the court to dissolve the CWC of the NUJ in the overall interest of the Union, insisting that CWC members’ tenure, according to the extant Constitution of the Union, ends on 6th October 2024.
In the court processes filed on 10th September 2024 and made available to newsmen in Abuja, the claimant argued that the Union’s leadership deliberately violated the NUJ Constitution by not putting in place the Credentials Committee three months before the expiration of its tenure as provided for in the Constitution.
On this averment, the Claimant is relying on Article 5(9) (a) of the NUJ Constitution which states: “There shall be a Credentials Committee, which shall be put in place three months before the expiration of the tenure of the subsisting Central Working Committee (CWC) to examine the good financial standing of each registered delegate before the conference and the name of any delegate not in good financial standing shall be withdrawn from the list of delegates.”
Whereas, the leadership of the Union was abreast of the provisions of the Constitution but, deliberately failed to put in place the Credentials Committee on the 6th July 2024.
The claimant is praying the court to dissolve the Credentials Committee over non-compliance with the provisions of the NUJ Constitution for gross abuse of the Union’s body of laws.
Also being challenged is the power of the Credentials Committee to impose humongous amount of Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N350,000) on nomination forms for the office of the President and other intending CWC aspirants.
Additionally, the claimant is requesting that the court allows Chairmen and Secretaries of State Councils to take over the affairs of the Union as from the 6th of October 2024 and put in place machinery for the conduct of the election within three months as provided for in the Constitution. If this prayer is granted, the claimant believes strongly that a level playing field will be provided for all members of the Union who intend to aspire for elective positions in the Union.
