Kwara NUJ Election: No Victor. No Vanquish

By Ishola Gbenga “Mr DG”

Stepping into Radio Kwara premises on Tuesday afternoon of 2nd June 2021, I discovered that my name got changed instantly and my nomenclature became “Mr DG”. Before I could mince a word, at least to make further enquiries of what that means, my brother, The Herald Newspapers Chapel NUJ Chairman, who also doubles as the Chairman Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Kwara State Chapter, Mr. Jimoh Bashir and Roland Olonishua also of The Herald Newspapers told me “look, we just held a meeting now! And we unanimously agreed to make you the Campaign Director General for Abdulateef Lanre Ahmed team, so congratulations”.

Incidentally, I wasn’t part of the said meeting where I was nominated and appointed. I had just returned from Alapa, in Asa Local Government where I went to officially moderate the event in which the Kwara State Government hosted the French Ambassador Jerome PASQUIER and his team who came on an official visit to the state. However, I do not only accept the DG appointment offer with all sense of humility, but also got convinced beyond reasonable doubt within me that those who settled for me as the Campaign Director General must have seen what I cannot possibly see as a mortal. To them, I am grateful.

It is pertinent to also mention that, as a public commentator of several years, especially as a newscaster with the Kwara State Broadcastion, Radio Kwara, one of the leading Radio Station in the country with thousands of ardent listeners, and now with the Kwara State Ministry of Communications, I had been an intrepid witness to some of the political happenings in a fragile society such as ours. I am also in the picture of some of the unfolding scenarios in the Kwara State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). Yet, nothing in my background ever prepared me of being the Campaign Director General for a chairmanship candidate (now the winner of the just conclude Kwara NUJ election) my brother, friend and colleague, Abdulateef Lanre Ahmed of The Herald Newspapers. It was a train that also brought about the emergence of the likes of Mahmood Olayinka Alaya of Radio Kwara as the Assistant Secretary and others.

At the time I publicly announced my resolve to accept the Abdulateef Lanre Ahmed Campaign Director General offer, which I officially announced on 2nd of June on my facebook page, I added to the statement I issued that our campaign will be devoid of campaign of blackmail, calumny, bitterness, lies, mischief or bring him down syndrome. To the glory of God Almighty, we kept to our words as a team.

To set straight the records, it is important to note that, the Abdulateef Lanre Ahmed campaign team got no dime from any individual, cooperate organizations or from the Kwara State Government to execute all it’s campaign runnings. Every dime spent was at our individual expense. This is however, contrary to the claims in some quarters the we are being sponsored by the Kwara State Government. Albeit, the fabricated lies, which we believed emanated from the pit of hell to tarnish our image had since been debunked abinitio, with a caveat not to drag the State Government into the Kwara NUJ politics. And now that the election had been won and lost with a reasonable margin, the rest as they say, is now history.

While I congratulate the newly elected Kwara NUJ executives and hope they will work to justify the trust reposed in them by members, may I also humbly inform them that the victory should not be handled or seen as a victory of winners takes it all or vendetta. Instead, it should be a victory for a new Kwara NUJ that we have all been craving for, a victory for all inclusiveness, sense of belonging irrespective of the group or team we all belong, and let the brotherly love continue. Mind you, election is now over. Eligible voters have voted in line with the “Oto Gee” ideology. Now, the mantra we should all key into is, “Ise “Ya……

That the election is already won in a free, fair and credible manner, especially at a time when the Berlin wall have now fallen down flat, it is believed by every discern mind that an outright end had come to the existence of godfatherism in the Kwara NUJ Council. We don’t have godfathers or godsons (if there’s anything like that) anymore. What we now have instead, are leaders. Leaders that will not only rise to be counted for what they stand for, but those that will bring to the table their rich and wealth of experience of several years to help build the union and guide the young and upcoming Journalists on how to handle mantle of leadership, especially at a time like this when we are not too young to run.

A piece of intervention like this will remain incomplete without congratulating other aspirants, who in my opinion are not failure but champions in our collective histories. Congratulations therefore to the incumbent chairman (who will soon be hanging over power) Comrade Umar Abdulwahab of the Blue Print Newspapers, my friend, Dare Abdullahi Akogun of Sobi FM and Fadeyi Babajide of the Federal Information Chapel. You’re all champions. After all, he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

For the record, however, I must single out Dare for mention. Dare, to me, is a kindhearted fellow in all fronts and like Saheeed Abdullahi of Radio Kwara would always and rightly put it “Walahitallahi Eniyan dada ni Dare Akogun”. I agreed completely with Saheeed. This is because, at the initial stage of candidates intention declaration, a supposedly elderly individual has issues with me accepting the offer to serve as the Campaign Director General, for which he threw caution and decency to the dog and practically attacked me for the choice I made. The fellow, a non Kwaran, even threatened me, a complete Kwaran, and an indigene by all standard for that matter, by saying it to my face that I cannot hold a particular position at chapel level without his inputs. The fellow attack and threatened others too, but I considered such statement uncharitable. He is one of the godfathers or intending godfathers that have no option as it is, but to the back seat in the scheme of things. In the face of it all, I maintained my stand and of course, a dignified silence. The issue got to Dare’s notice and he sent me a personal message to apologize on behalf the fellow. I owe Dare a debth of gratitude for that spirit of generosity despite we not belonging to the same camp.

May I also state categorically that, my resolve to support and join the league of those who took up the courage of trying to see how the narratives could be better changed in the Kwara NUJ is not for personal gain. Being a Director General of a campaign team doesn’t add or take anything away from me as far as I am concerned. I will continue to be my normal self. As it is, someone like me will stay aloof and offer my little positive advise if they are sought for. For me, the mandate at hand is that we shall continue to support this present administration of Kwara NUJ executives to ensure that they don’t fail. If they fail, (God forbid) we have also failed. They have to succeed and their success is non- negotiable. So, those who claimed we cannot hold any position without there inputs should please hold their position. I am not interested in any. So what else? My peace I suppose.

Thanks of a very high esteem goes to members of our campaign team for their resilience, loyalty and commitments till this very point in time, especially when nobody actually “Bank Rolled” us throughout our tours. We actually did this together. May I thank the scribe of this great campaign team, I see him as my right hand man and a pen-god on his own who always does the job beyond the call of duty, he is tall, handsome and a brilliant mind. He is Saheeed Toyin Abdullahi of Radio Kwara. We must thank elders like that ace broadcaster and a one time Chairman Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Radio Kwara Chapel, Asiwaju Abdullahi Adisa Akodudu who also doubles as the head of Yoruba Unit and the acclaimed winner of the 2015 Kwara NUJ Chairmanship election.

The former Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor of Kwara State, Mr.Bunmi Adedoyin, the current Radio Kwara Chapel NUJ Chairman, Alhaji, Bashiru Ademola Jimoh, The Herald Newspapers chapel NUJ Chairman Mr. Jimoh Bashir, Mrs. Hauwa Tajudeen, Medinat Yusuf, Mariam Abdulkadir Yusuf, Aminat Adedeji Soladoye, Mustapha, Olaosebikan Itunu, Cynthia Nwafor Ndidi, Olabode Ahmed, Fatimah Asabe Jiyah, Dada Bamishe, Aminat Tijani, Jenet Bogunjoko, Akolawole Atanda Olukutan, Ismail Ayodeji, Roland Olonishua, Medinat Owoyemi, Senator Akeem Olatidoye, Ololu Lawal, Lanre Kobe, and other commited members who also made themselves available for any of our campaign outings. We also extend our profound appreciation to those who can’t be with us in person but are strongly with us in body and soul. Adupeoo!

What about “the council of Director Generals”, as my brother Abdulrasheed Shoboi Akogun, Publisher Fresh Insight Newspaper and online TV would say? Thanks of a more personal nature therefore go to my friends and colleagues in the pen profession. Thank you Yinka Owolewa, Mosunmola Ayobami and Olayinka Alabere for your strong sense of understandings and maturity which for me, remains a clear example of the fact that the Kwara NUJ Council has grown beyond pettiness.

Members of the 2021 Kwara NUJ Election Credential Committe (The Jegas) headed by my brother, Ahmed Ajiboye are incredible. They received the heat. Yes! They did. They got the bashes of their lives. They got both constructive and destructive criticism from members, at the end of which they delivered credibly. Understandably, the Committee should bear in mind that whatever happens remains one of those things and by extension, prices to pay for any selfless public service. They all comes with the terrain. Thank you for being just and fair in the delivery of your mandates. Posterity, am sure will be kind to you all.

We thank all the NUJ chapels in Kwara. God bless you for being part of the libration history. Sincerely, I must thank Radio Kwara as a cooperation and of course, as a chapel for not only being there as the source of inspiration, but for taking and seeing Abdulateef Lanre Ahmed’s expression of interest to contest as their collective project for which they took up to a logical conclusion. Meanwhile, the tales of how, why and where it all began, including the individuals that God used for the actualization of this divine mission which no doubt started from Radio Kwara, will be a story for another day.

To rap it up however, I had taken the personal pain to do critical and a comprehensive reviewed a work on the factors that shaped and ultimately determined the outcome of the just concluded NUJ election in Kwara State. It’s going to be a first of it kind ever since elections have been holding over the years in the Kwara NUJ. The whole process deserves to be documented, and I doing that already.

With this in mind, I believe my job as the Director General for Abdulateef Lanre Ahmed 2021 Chairmanship Campaign Team is done. Wishing everyone all the best a season like this can offer.