By Solomon Ayado
It is laughable. The case of the ongoing fracas between the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Benue State Council, and members of the Correspondents Chapel in the state is disgraceful. Nothing is worth proving the discord. They are both like the chicken and the egg.
The NUJ is the umbrella body under which the Correspondents are a Chapel. The correspondents are representatives of varied national media in the state, and are being operated as an arm in the NUJ.
It seems like case of a father and the prodigal son who, are both bloodline of the same family. The NUJ is the guardian/mother of the Correspondents, same way the correspondents are prominent sons/ daughters of NUJ.
The folly is that, both groups have not rethink to not start such a retrogressive voyage at this moment that the union had not recovered from past woes that befell it.
Retrospectively, it took several years that the NUJ Benue State council, with all its chappels (organs), was enmeshed in a prolonged internal leadership dispute which saw the collapse of the union.
During the dispute time, the NUJ, regarded as the watchdog became neglected, starved, obviously malnourished and emaciated. There was no life. The watchdog was simply in ICU, Intensive Care Unite.
Previous administrations in Benue could not give it life or resolve the impasse. The union was in shambles and had lost its glory. The popular NUJ House became a shadow of itself. The union members including Correspondents were in disarray and in tantrums with each other, for a long time. The governments and corporate organisations had got disappointed and abandoned the union.
It took several years of NUJ members in Benue being rejected till the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia came and wisely initiated a truce. Even, it took the Alia administration a little long struggle to proffer a wayforward as union members initially resisted.
At first, it was said that the governor’s media aides were battling each other over who will lead the peace deal. It was alleged that their scramble to champion the truce was to get access to finance meant to sponsor the peace effort.
Ofcourse, eventually, both the governor’s Technical Adviser on media and strategic communications, Solomon Iorpev, and the Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula noticeably combined efforts and the NUJ in Benue was victoriously brought back to sanity.
And so, to any sane mind, who could be deceiving the NUJ and Correspondents to yet, again, initiate any fracas that could take the union back to the retrogressive days of infighting? For how much? And of what benefit? For financial or political reasons? Or to take side with Kula or Iorpev? All this is not needed at this moment.
It was gathered that the NUJ Benue Council, allegedly being sponsored by the governor’s TA on media, Iorpev, accused the CPS Kula of misappropriation of funds meant for the union, and also sabotaging all the Union’s strives. Also, that Correspondents Chapel, reportedly backed by Kula, accused the NUJ chairman Bemdoo Ugber of corruption amounting to about N11 million while operating in sink with Iorpev .
In the ensuing disagreement, members of the Correspondents Chapel announced a pull-out from the NUJ. What a disgraceful move! Does a child disown his mother? The NUJ too had accused the CPS and Correspondents of sabotaging the union. Quite degrading! In all, let me state without fear that all of them are not right, including the governor’s media handlers who are being alleged of masterminding the discord.
I blame the NUJ and Correspondents to have, not cleverly realized that the union, after a long suffered retrogression, should not be subjected to any fresh acrimony that would take it back to the mud. Enough is enough!
Somehow, it took the governor’s media aides a hard struggle to bring the union members back to oneness, and reportedly, if they turn to setting embers of discord at this critical time, is not statesmanly at all. Doing that in this critical elective period is injustice to the governor, our brother.
Even though the governor’s media managers have crossed to the political divide, they are still members of the union and should do every best to keep the NUJ at peace, no matter the personal interests, for legacy sake.
Would they (Iorpev/Kula) be happy if posterity recalls someday that they fueled collapse of the NUJ while managing the governor’s media? Let’s rethink.
But I blame the NUJ members including the correspondents of mixing journalism with bad politics, and substituting the pen with daggers. They should be wiser than they acted.
Firstly, NUJ is an organized entity with several disciplinary and fact finding committees that could have, ordinarily, be detailed to check facts, probe allegations and resolve issues. Was that mechanism exhausted or it was not utilized at all?
Let us stop behaving like illiterates! We are Fourth Estate of the realm for crying out loud. We set agenda and hold government to account. Why must it be we – watchdogs, dragging each other naked in the public square over a bone that does not even have meat? How much is paltry N11 million? When politicians steal billions, build mansions, send families abroad and drive in digital automobiles, do we do a hoot? Why is our case different?
Do we think Governor Alia who personally thought it wise, out of no prompting, to resolve the NUJ long standing feud, is a fool? Have we communicated to him if his aides are misbehaving? The Reverend gentleman governor, maybe, would have intervened and put to stop in allowing the situation degenerate to the disgraceful state it has reached.
Let me advise the National NUJ leadership to quickly intervene, swiftly take peaceful steps to tackle the impasse before it is too late. Benue NUJ has suffered for too long and we shall no longer watch it be buried.
To Chairman Bemdoo Ugber and Correspondents, we don’t need the fight with all your pride and arrogance. Moreso that it is not your fight. If politicians want to fight dirty, let noble NUJ members not be used. Distinguished Chair, settle the feud humbly or proudly collapse the NUJ and write your name in oblivion.
While I am appealing to Governor Alia not to see us as nonentity but partners in progress towards making Benue greater, let the governor once again, come in and play his usual fatherly role, as he did before, so that our union will coast to a best.
As a professional pen man of local, national and international repute, I rise at this point as a critical stakeholder, to call a spade by name, and to appeal to all aggrieved parties to shed swords, embrace peace and harmony, so our union cannot die a forceful death.
There is no need for our members to dance to whims and caprices of some political inducers. This union is ours and only us can stabilise it. Political office would come and go, so shall union leaderships wane too. We should not timidly be proud to pull strings that are not necessary.
We are journalists for high repute, and not pencils in the hands of some self-seeking political office holders. The governor’s media handers maybe doing their best in their varied jobs. Let them settle their differences without necessarily using the NUJ and members of the Correspondents, while we settle our own too.
But if the Benue NUJ and Correspondents are seriously in a wake for a dirty fight, the day of reckoning will differentiate God and Satan, while the rigors will be insurmountable, eventually.
Ayado, an Editor and Policy Communications Expert writes from Makurdi, Benue State.
