Rivers NUJ 2022: The Storm, The Calm, The Expectations

After several months of tension and uncertainties, journalists in Rivers State peacefully elected on Wednesday a new state executive to run the affairs of their union for the next three years.
The aphorism, ‘All is
well that ends well,’ best describes the outcome of the just concluded election of the Rivers State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), which last Wednesday returned Comrade Stanley Job as the State Chairman and Comrade Ike Wigodo as Secretary for a second term and the election of five other officers under a peaceful and friendly atmosphere to run the affairs of the council for the next three years.
The backslapping and hugs that greeted the declaration of the results were in sharp contrast to what many feared would happen at the election, which had suffered several postponements amidst tension and threats by opposing factions that emerged in the run-up to the election. On one of the days, specifically on August 12, 2021, when the election failed to hold, tables were overturned, bottles broken and blows were exchanged. It took the intervention of security agents at the event to get people out of the election hall and out of Ernest Ikoli Press Centre to bring peace to the premises. For several weeks, journalist lost the use of the press centre as the police cordoned off the place until a rapprochement was reached with the main contending factions of the council.
The August 12 fight had started just as the then national Vice-Chairman, Edward Ogude, got set to conduct the election as part of the triennial congress formalities. A faction of members in the hall called to question the credibility of the list of voters about to be used to conduct the election because the credentials committee, set up to conduct the election did not display the list of voters for claims and objections.
After the August 12 fiasco, a new election date of January 13, 2022 date was finally approved by the National Secretariat. But the election suffered further shift following objections to the list of members to vote at the election. January 18 was finally approved after the issues arising from the voters’ register were resolved.
If bottles were broken and tables thrown at members in the failed August 2021 date, not a few expected that the January 18 rescheduled event would be any peaceful. If anything, people feared the worst. The weather did not help matters. Very early on Tuesday morning, the sky had darkened, very unusual of an early January weather. The day looked unpredictable as people argued whether it was going to rain or whether it was just another display in the sky what they had become used to as the Port Harcourt soot.
But rather than find people with weapons and unusual faces of suspected troublemaker hirelings lurking about, the premises of Ernest Ikoli Press Centre was full of excited and convivial journalists hugging themselves, throwing banters and holding hands. The press centre had never had that kind of happy crowd for many years or even decades. Curiously, people coming into the centre were not frisked by security agents. And if there were security agents around, their presence did not quite manifest.
Colleagues that had not met themselves for a long time seized the advantage of the sort of reunion and treated themselves to throwbacks as they caught up with lost time and shared memories. The large open space in front of Ernest Ikoli could hardly contain the crowd of journalists. Even as people looked for space to fill up, the elements felt the distances between them were not close enough. Without warning, the heavens opened up and the rains sent everyone hoarded into the bush bar and reception of the main building to create closer body contacts.
The election soon got underway as voters were called in to vote according to their chapels. Many chapels had voted and their members had gone home. Things were moving smoothly though slowly until something caught the attention of one eagle-eyed voter. Voters were being given eight ballot papers instead of seven, a situation that could make people vote double. The discovery was enough to get tempers flying. And they fly. The parties took it up and talked it over with the election committee.
If things were going to get out of control, they were settled with the prompt arrival of the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, who after consultations, got the process cancelled and called in members still around to inform them of what had happened. If the commissioner expected his explanation to calm the audience, he didn’t quite read them well. There was unease. Who is responsible? After all these postponements, who wants to rubbish the efforts again? Tempers flared and murmurs greeted the Commissioner’s revelation.
“We have to come back tomorrow to vote again,” Nsirim’s voice cut through the bedlam, as he insisted that the voting could no longer stand. “Once there is an error in the process, it calls the credibility of election to question.” He praised journalists for the decorum and understanding they had exhibited despite the discovery but vouched for the neutrality of the election committee and attributed the error to an honest mistake. “How would it be possible to again gather the large number of journalists that joyfully turned out for the election?” One person was heard saying over the din, “There will be apathy.”
“It is a family and for us to make a headway (in this situation), we have to make a sacrifice to come back tomorrow,” the Commissioner appealed. He eventually put the decision like a motion to a voice vote. And those in support of returning the following day to vote had it. After receiving an apology from the NUJ Zonal Secretary, who said all the ballots used for the day would be destroyed before everybody. The gathering was dismissed to resume by 11 am the following day.
If the sky of Tuesday, January 18, 2022 was gloomy, the sky of Wednesday, January 19 came clear. If there was any fear that not many voters would turn out for the election after the rescheduling, the large enthusiastic crowd that reported on Wednesday proved otherwise. The votes were cast and they were counted. At the end of it all, winners emerged and their opponents embraced them. As one veteran journalist, who said he was troubled when he heard about the violence that had marred the August 12 the initial date for the election, said, “I am glad to come around and see that journalists in Rivers State are able to put aside that ugly past and are embracing themselves.”
A number of things had happened while the election stalemate lasted. The council could not send a unified team to the national convention of the NUJ that took place in Umuahia in October last year. However the state was able to produce the National Zonal Vice-President in the person of Opaka Dokubo, a former state chairman of the NUJ in the state.
Credit for the successful election and smooth transition during the almost six months of crisis must be given to the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Communications, Rivers State, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, himself a former Council Chairman and Secretary who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the warring faction together. When it mattered he took a leave from his cabinet duties to troubleshoot when his physical presence mattered.
Credit will also go to the Elders Committee of the NUJ in the state, whose quick reaction and consultations led to the setting up the caretaker committee that took over the running of the council and prevented a vacuum. The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Friday Eboka, also deserves mention for not only providing security to safeguard the Press Centre on the day violence broke out, but also for successfully bringing the various stakeholders of the council to commit to peace.
The caretaker committee headed by Comrade Amaechi Okonkwo also proved a commendable point for successfully steering the affairs of the council safely to shore despite the many mines that were laid in its path. Similar commendation also goes to the President of NUJ, Chief Chris Isiguzo, and other national executives who despite their engagements prior to and following their elections during the crisis period provided support and guidance for the process that led to the successful transition in Rivers State.
It is now expected that the new state working committee will build on the renewed love, unity and camaraderie among journalists in the state and move the union forward. There are many issues regarding the welfare, accreditation, training and empowerment of journalists in the state, which the council must now address itself to. The menace of fake news and new media practitioners, who masquerade as journalists; abuses by members who go cheap before their sources; irregular accreditation of chapels; and living wages for journalists and settlement of benefits to retiring journalists by both public and private employers of journalists. There is also the issue about creating synergies between the NUJ and public institutions, government bodies, organised private sector and corporate organisations in the state; integration and empowerment of veterans and revival of the press centre culture.
Those elected were Comrade Stanley Job (Chairman); Comarade Okechukwu Maru (Vice-Chairman), Comrade Ikechukwu Wigodo (Secretary); Comrade Esther Obialor (Assistant Secretary); Comrade Miebaka Fubara (Financial Secretary); Comrade Doris Tam Morrison (Treasurer) and Comrade Ominini Wokoma (Auditor).
Job, the re-elected chairman promised to improve on the achievements of his first tenure, work for the bettering of the welfare of journalists, and renovate the Ernest Ikoli Press Centre.

By: Emmanuel Obe

Obe is a journalist in Rivers State.