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- Agitators should know their limits
By John Egie
Once again, Marxian Conflict Theory that stems from the desire to protect self and or group’s interest has shot up on the table of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta State Council.
The current expression of dissatisfaction by a group of the State Executive Council obviously now being spearheaded by the State Vice Chairman, Comrade Felix Ekwu borders on the usual: allegations of gross financial misconduct, abuse of power, highhandedness and all such associated tags that could qualify a dog to be called a bad name and be hung.
Other members of the State executive who are dagger drawn and possibly demand a pound of flesh from Comrade Churchhill Oyowe and Comrade Victor Sorokwu, Chairman and Secretary respectively include: the Assistant Secretary, (Josephine Iroro), the Treasurer ( Caroline Ubini) and the Financial Secretary (Polycarp Orosevwotu)
With a no effort at content analysis, the preamble of the petition which is in public domain acknowledges that the present crop of the State Council of the Union came on board through an election process that was popularly accepted as genuine, peaceful and transparent and the acknowledgement puts a hole in the agitating group’s assertion of being the eye of the State Council of the Union, which focus, they erroneously believe has been derailed by the duo of the State Chairman and Secretary who constitutionally set the Union’s agenda.
It is wrong and an attempt at ultravires for members of council to address the working together of the Chairman and Secretary of the Union, two officers who the Union’s Constitution empowers to form the shape and carry the image of the Union in all of its businesses and activities as being in ‘connivance’. The Union Constitution clearly defines the roles and functions of the Chairman and Secretary working together in the interest of the Union and they hold the knife and the yam.
Interestingly, the Vice Chairman and the Financial Secretary who obviously are leading the insurrection have been leaders in capacity of Chairmen in their various home chapels before being elected to the State Council. Was there any time during their tenure in their chapels that they provided room for other Exco members to make input before decisions were taken? Did they not wear the toga of alpha and omega in their chapels? Were they accused of conniving with their secretaries to undo others? Why would they want to shift the post at the middle of the game?
The threat that Council will be thrown into fictionalization and anarchy is unnecessary since, take it or leave it, the council has been factionalized and the interests of various stakeholders whom the agitators are out to protect are known.
It is not a novelty show. This game has always been played so. It is unfortunate that incumbent leaders (Chairman and Secretaries) of the Union are always arm strung by past leaders who one way or the other gave support to their election or those who were opposed to their election but were disappointed by the results of the polls. They make demands that tend to reduce the incumbent to puppets and when there is any disagreement or resistance to the call from the Union’s ‘ancestors’, the incumbents’ eye would be bloodied and their nose broken. To get that done, agitation for the suspension of the Chairman and his Secretary would be the sing-song and to justify their action, allegations of gross financial misconduct, abuse of power and highhandedness would be concocted and projected.
Apparently, by the wording of the petition the ego of the financial secretary is dwarfed below what he envisioned when he ran for the office. He should have hoped to be the one to call the shot and possibly work in connivance with the treasurer and the vice chairman to frustrate the council chairman and secretary and make the union stagnant. But thanks to a pragmatic and firm leader like Oyowe, they had a different ball game altogether.
It is common knowledge in NUJ affairs that so long the Chairman and Secretary are on the same page, the union moves on. The agitators may have forgotten that the King is the State and the State is the King. Wherever and whatever the Chairman and Secretary of NUJ do is officially done by NUJ without recourse to approval by other officials. That has been the practice and the agitators know.
The petition exposes a glimpse of sense of insubordination and disrespect for the office of the Chairman who the agitators expected to be subservient to the treasurer. That was an expression of malice and shouldn’t have been.
The motive and philosophy of the agitation indicate subjective, mundane interest laden with self aggrandizement akin to the Nigerian politician concept of share the money and kill the Union and when the Chairman refuses to play game, give him a bad name and hang him.
The quartet of the conspirators engaging in this rebellion must realize that mandate was given to the Chairman and Secretary of the Union to steer the ship of the Union for three years in the first instance, and any attempt by them to rock the boat as reflected in their selfish declaration of a no confidence vote on the Chairman and Secretary equally places them on a tight corner in the eyes of majority of journalists in Delta State who gave the mandate; and should they not be able to get home with the ball, they should be ready to bear the brunt of public odium arising from selfish desire to overthrow the King.
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