The Guild of Online Media Practitioners of Oyo State (GOMPOS), the online chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has declared the Alhaji Alhassan Yahya-led presidency of the Union as illegal.
The online chapel stated in a press release, on Saturday, that election that brought the present NUJ national leadership into office was flawed as some state chapels that participated in the process were disqualified and unrecognised by the Union.
The online chapel made its stance known in reaction to the decision by the outgoing chairman of the Oyo State Council, Comrade Ademola Babalola, aided by the NUJ National Secretariat, to disenfranchise GOMPOS members from participating in the election coming up in the state on 9 December.
The NUJ National Leadership, on Friday, released the list of 14 chapels that will be participating in the election, with the exclusion of the online chapel and some others.
GOMPOS chairman and secretary, Comrade Femi Atoyebi and Comrade Dapo Falade, respectively, stated in the press release that the NUJ national leadership deliberately erred in its decision.
They noted that disqualifying the online chapel automatically meant that the elections of Alhaji Alhassan Yahya and other national officers were illegal since GOMPOS participated in the Triennial Delegates Conference held in Owerri, Imo State in November 2024.
It is very funny that GOMPOS, a chapel which was duly inaugurated by the Comrade Ademola Babalola-led Oyo State Council of the NUJ on 27 November, 2022, could now be said not to qualify to vote in the State Council election, fixed for 9 December 2025.
It is more absurd that the NUJ National Secretariat, under the leadership of Comrade Alhassan Yahya, will also support the illegality being perpetrated by disenfranchising members of the online chapel and denying its members their rights to vote in the election.
GOMPOS, as the online chapel of the Oyo NUJ Council, was recognised and it participated in the election that brought the present NUJ national leadership, led by Alhaji Alhassan Yahya to office.
Again, one cannot but ask what changed between them and now. It will be very hard to explain that the NUJ National Secretariat was not aware of the inauguration of new chapels in any of the state councils across the federation.
Should the NUJ national leadership feign ignorance of the existence of GOMPOS as the 19th chapel of the Oyo State Council, this has cast shadows on the character and quality of leadership we have at the national level.
Since the online chapel has been deemed unfit to participate in the forthcoming Oyo NUJ Council because of the ill-advised decision to disenfranchise its members, it behoves anybody or organisation with good conscience to also de-recognise all the activities it has participated in within the NUJ, both at the state and at the national levels.
It will be absurd to allow the illegality perpetrated by the now disenfranchised Oyo NUJ Online Chapel by voting in the November 2024 Triennial Delegates Conference which produced the Alhassan Yahya Presidency to go unchecked.
It is on this note that we, members of the online chapel of the NUJ, Oyo State Council, are declaring that the presidency of Alhaji Alhassan Yahya is also illegal.
A legal structure cannot be built on a defective and illegal foundation. The present NUJ national leadership is part of the contribution of the Oyo NUJ online chapel which some people have come to see as an illegal chapel.
Our declaration of the Comrade Alhassan Yahya-led NUJ leadership as illegal is nothing personal, but a genuine concern over the state of our Union.
We are not begging to be allowed to participate in the forthcoming election in Oyo Council. Rather, we are asking for a refund of the money the online chapel paid into the NUJ coffer as 2025 annual due and for membership identity cards.
Inasmuch as we have been declared as illegal, we want the whole world to also know that the current NUJ national leadership is illegal, as Oyo online chapel which participated in the election of the President and other officials have been declared illegal.
Injustice to one is an injustice to all.
Many of the state councils of the NUJ are enmeshed in one crisis or the other over the failure of the national leadership to ensure justice, equity and fairness among members.
During the inauguration of GOMPOS as the online chapel and the 19th chapel of the NUJ Oyo Council, Comrade Babalola had declared that he was happy with the calibre of members that made up the chapel.
Speaking during the inauguration, the outgoing chairman further said members of the chapel were entitled to all rights and privileges available to all members within the State Council, including rights to vote and be voted for, trainings and seminars, among others.
He further said then that the coming on board of the online chapel was a good development at a time when the practice of journalism, especially the online, called for serious attention and self-control.
He maintained that he was satisfied with the credibility of those who championed the course of GOMPOS and expressed optimism that the new chapel will be a shining light in the NUJ.
