N12 alledged land scam: Borno Correspondents’ Chapel of NUJ passes vote of no confidence on State Chairman, 2 others

Members of Borno State Correspondents’ Chapel.of the Nigeria Union of Journalist, NUJ, Maiduguri have passed a vote of no confidence on the State Chairman of NUJ Comrade Bulama Talba, State Secretary, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim and the Auditor, Comrade Saleh Habib for their collective conspiracy and collaboration as well as alleged sale of 100×50 square meters four plots of land belonging to the Borno State Council, located along Maiduguri-Damboa -Biu road beside Bakassi Housing Estate worth N12 million.

A statement jointly issued and signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Alhaji Haruna Dauda and Mr. Timothy Olarenwaju respectively and made available to newsmen in Maiduguri on Tuesday said members of the chapel rose from an emergency congress meeting with about nine (9) resolutions at the end of the emergency meeting passing vote of no confidence on the three principal officers while seeking for refund of the money or recovery of the four plots.

The statement read in parts, “The Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Borno State held an Emergency Congress Meeting on Monday 7th February, 2022 on the controversy surrounding the alleged sale of NUJ Borno State Council plots of land and resolved as follows;

“We condemned unequivocally the alleged sale of the State council Union’s property by some officials of the state council (union) without due process and with flagrant disregard to the NUJ constitution.

“We call the officials involved to, as a matter of urgency, do everything legally possible to retrieve and return the said landed property.

“The chapel is appalled that despite the gravity of the act, the leadership has refused to call a properly constituted SEC meeting or congress where the issue can be addressed.

“As far as we are concerned, the meeting held on 25th January, 2022 was more like an abridged stakeholders’ meeting and its convocation did not conform with Article 5, Section F (g & h)

“We call on the leadership to convoke Congress Meeting within 7 days from now.

“We advise the former leadership of the Union and our elders to comport themselves properly for any unbecoming utterances or act concerning this land matter.

“We demand clarity from the National Secretariat of the NUJ over the controversial approval given for the sale of the said land in question.

“We commend the State NUJ Council Officials that tendered earlier their resignation letters for upholding high level of standards and integrity;, especially, our own Member (representative), Mr Dauda Iliya who is SEC member of our great union.

“Lastly, We, as concerned and bonafide members of the Union have resolved to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion to restore the dignity of journalism profession.”the statement said.

It will be recalled that Four Executive members of NUJ, Borno State Chapter on Tuesday 25th January this year tendered a joint resignation letter to their respective chapels, which was copied to the national body of the union in Abuja, following what they described as bridge of trust and direct attempt to ruin their integrity by the Bulama Talba led- Chairman.

They accused the Bulama led exco for conniving and sold some four plots of land at the cost of N12 million only which was allocated to the union as permanent site by former governor Kashim Shettima.

The aggrieved NUJ officials are Babagana Bukar from Borno Radio and Television (BRTV) who was the Vice Chairman of the Union while Mrs Hauwa Bata of the Peace FM Maiduguri was the sidelined Treasurer.

Others aggrieved officials who signed the joint resignation letter, and believed to have not been carried along in the scheme of the Union are Chiroma Ali Ibrahim of Peace FM who was the Assistant Secretary, as well as Mr. Dauda Iliya of Radio Nigeria, a member of the Correspondents’ Chapel who was the financial secretary of the union.