Osun NUJ Crisis: CDHR Accuses NUJ National President of Sabotage

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Osun State branch, has described the crisis rocking Osun State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) as unpleasant and shameful to the pen profession.

CDHR in a letter sent to the National President of the NUJ, Mr Waheed Odusile, on Monday said that it was disheartening that the highly respected and intellectual union has been subjected to derision; humiliation and harassment of members by security agents, unnecessary uproar and treacherous actions.

The letter dated July 22, 2016 was signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the organization, Comrades Akin Asifat and Adebola Fabiyi respectively.

According to the human right organization, the NUJ crisis was an affirmation of the degeneration and loss of moral value in every profession and society at large, maintaining that the respected pen profession has been subjected to ridicule because of greed, nepotism and vendetta.

A copy of the letter made available to our correspondent reads: “CDHR, Osun State Chapter is compelled to write you on the unpleasant and disgraceful events in the Osun State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, following the controversial annulment of the council election held on February 11, 2016.

“While we are avoiding dabbling into the matter, because we see it as family affairs, we will be committing a moral injustice to remain silence and enjoy the reprehensible unfolding events in the Osun NUJ, most especially when it has become a public matter and gradually degenerating to breaking down of law and order by members of the union.

“Mr President sir; with all modesty, the crisis should not have escalated to the point where police, civil defence and DSS officers would be intervening, had you acted rightly as expected. It is never too late to retrace your step and unite the warring factions you created.

“We do not think that a father would allow his children to kill one-another or drag themselves to security agents and court before he would settle the crisis within them. The father should be willing to compromise and make sacrifice to ensure peace among his children. We are not seeing you playing this role, Mr President.

“We want to commend the effort of the security agencies in the state on the matter and equally urged them to be more professional on the NUJ crisis. We all hold the society the responsibility of promoting peace and unity in our various capacity.

“We are using this medium to call on the National Working Committee of the NUJ to act fast on the Osun NUJ matter, and that they should not allow the crisis to destabilize the public peace of the state.”