BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – The Triennial Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Cross River State council has produced Comrade Nsa Gill of The Nations newspaper as the new Chairman to manage the affairs of media practitioners in the state for the next three years.
Comrade Gill, a member of the Correspondent Chapel, polled a total of 76 votes to beat his opponent Comrade Oka Ibor of the Nigerian Chronicle Chapel who scored 50 votes.
He will be piloting the Union’s affairs alongside Comrade Solomon Azu of Nigerian Chronicle Newspaper Chapel, who emerged as State Secretary polling 64 votes to narrowly defeat his rival, Judex Okoro of the Correspondent Chapel who garnered 59 votes at the poll.
Also, Comrade Archobong Bassey of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Chapel recorded 85 votes, the highest number by any candidate, to bag the post of Financial Secretary against her opponent, Veronica Ogar of Information Chapel who scored 41 votes.
Other winners at the elections include Florence Kanu of Cross River Broadcasting Corporation (CRBC) Chapel – Vice Chairman; Kingsley Agim of Information Chapel – Assistant Secretary; and Achiena Adams of Information Chapel – Treasurer. All three candidates were returned unopposed.
A total of 148 delegates were accredited for the election while only 126 turned up to cast their votes during the exercise that the NUJ members described as peaceful and hitch-free.
In his post-election speech, Comrade Nsa Gill pledged to fulfill his campaign promises of running an all-inclusive administration where every member of the Union would have a sense of belonging.
On his part, Comrade Oka Ibor commended members of the Union for choosing their leaders in a peaceful manner, noting that election is all about winning and losing.
In accepting the verdict of his colleagues who found his opponent worthy of the Chairmanship position, Ibor urged all members to close ranks and give the new executive the necessary support required in taking the Council to the next level of development.
Earlier, the National Vice President, Zone F, Comrade Opata Dokubo, who supervised the elections alongside the Zonal Secretary, Comrade Samuel Egbala, called on members to demonstrate greater solidarity and concern over union affairs.
He noted that experience has shown that journalists appear to attach greater interest in the affairs of other arms of government to the detriment of what concerns the Union and in the process forget that the journalism profession is constitutionally provided for as the fourth estate of the realm.
The NUJ Vice President tasked all the winners of the election to be magnanimous in victory, even as he charged those who lost at the poll to remain focused and committed knowing that there is always hope and another opportunity to try again.
