By Tony Adibe
Initially, there was doubt inside the main hall of the Ifeany Ugwuanyi Press Centre, Enugu, as to whether the event would be poorly attended or otherwise. The doubt was due to the perceived low turnout at the time. But as the Igbo would say, “Adighi eji ututu ama njo ahia” (You don’t predict the outcome of sales at the market by the early morning performance!).
The early morning rainfall didn’t help matters at all. It must have contributed to what most people regarded as “low turnout” in the beginning. The event – inauguration of a newly elected Executive of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu State Council, and a “Homecoming” for a “Home-Boy,” scheduled for 11:00 am, however, didn’t commence till at about 2:00 pm on Saturday, September 13, 2025. The event themed, “Leadership Recruitment Amid Challenges of Poverty: The Role of The Media”, had two parts: The ‘part one’ was the inauguration of Ogbuka-led new Executive, while Part two was a reception in honour of the immediate past National President of NUJ, Chief Dr Comrade Christopher Isiguzo, MFR. It’s like using one stone to kill two birds at the same time!
Curiously, it was like a miracle! The guests began trooping in like ants filing out of the wood (apology to Prof. J.P.Clark in his poem “Night Rain”), and it was as if the guests would scamper for seats; and indeed, the entire seats were occupied, thereby making the hall filled to capacity! Outside the hall, it was like the atmosphere had now become friendly. The weather that was dull earlier due to the early morning rainfall has suddenly become clement – the sun was not harsh – just as if nature was now in favour of the organisers.
NewsBits reports that the members of the new Executive who were inaugurated by the NUJ Vice president, Zone C, Comrade Ezenwa Adiukwu, included Comrades Obinna Ogbuka, chairman; Chinedu Adonu, Vice chairman; Sullieman Onyeama Jnr, Secretary; Fred Nnaji, Assistant secretary; Florence Ani, Internal Auditor; Sandra Ukeje-Ahuekwe, Financial secretary, and Stephanie Udeh, treasurer.
However, the dignitries who attended the occasion included the traditional ruler of Ubogidi/Ozalla autonomous community at Ozalla Edem-Ani, Nsukka, and Chairman, Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, Igwe Samuel Ikechukwu Asadu (Ogadagidi); National President of the NUJ, Comrade Alhassan Yahaya; immediate past president of NUJ, Comrade Chris Isiguzo, MFR; Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Malachy Agbo; the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Mbah on External Relations, Mazi Uche Anichukwu, who was chairman of the occasion ; Dr. Luke Mgbo the Special Adviser on Media to the Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial Zone, Distinguished Senator Osita Ngwu, who represented his principal; the Zonal Director of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Dr. Ikechukwu Okere; the Deputy national president of NUJ, Comrade Dr (Mrs) Abimbola Oyetunde; and the South East NUJ State Councils’ chairmen and a host of others.
NATIONAL INTEREST & NATIONAL SECURITY
The NUJ President, Comrade Alhassan Yahya, who addressed the huge gathering, said journalists ought to recommit themselves while “we prioritise issues” of national security and national interest.
“For us to practice as journalists, we must have a very peaceful country, called Nigeria. And without a very peaceful atmosphere, there’s no way we will be able to achieve our objectives as journalists, and there’s no way we can even practise as journalists,” Yahya said.
REUNION FOR JOURNALISTS
Yahya told the gathering about the promises his administration made upon being sworn into office, recalling that recently, the national leadership of NUJ organised an event that was more like a reunion (for members), which attracted journalists from the 36 states of Nigeria to Abuja.
The NUJ President said: “If you can recall vividly, we promised journalists in Nigeria that we are going to organise a series of engagements, a series of trainings as well as events. Not long ago, we organised, for the first time, a very big event where members of the union from across the 36 states were in Abuja.”
According to him, the essence of that event was for the members to have what was regarded as a “reunion and also set a new agenda for the union.” Yahya told his audience: “I want to assure you that very, very soon, we are working tirelessly to see that we reposition this union to greater heights.”
24 YEARS AGO INSIDE THE SAME HALL!
Going down memory lane, Yahya recounted why, when, and how he regarded the Coal City as his “second home”, recalling vividly how, 24 years ago, he made history in Enugu.
Yahaya said, “Whenever I visit Enugu State, I feel happy that this is my second home. 24 years ago in this very hall, I was inaugurated as an NEC member. And today, I am here with my friend, my brother, my leader, Comrade Chris Isiguzo.
“Let me begin by thanking God most sincerely for a day like this for us to interact and appreciate hard work, perseverance, and above all, quality leadership. It may interest you to know that this is the first time in the history of NUJ, the state council is organising a homecoming/reception in honour of a past leader.”
The NUJ President further told his audience that he was also the “first sitting President of NUJ”, who also organised a reception in honour of the immediate past President of NUJ.
YAHYA FOCUSES ON OBINNA OGBUKA
Turning to the Enugu NUJ Council Chairman, Comrade Obinna Ogbuka, Yahya expressed appreciation to him and lauded him because “if God permits you, you are somebody who will take this union to greater heights.”
Thanking journalists in Enugu State for what he called “massive support,” Yahya also pleaded with the Coal City journalists to extend the same level of “massive support” or solidarity to Ogbuka to enable him to achieve his Restoration Agenda in the Enugu council of NUJ.
DR AGBO INVITES JOURNALISTS TO JOIN THE GOVERNMENT!
Juxtaposing the theme of the event, “LEADERSHIP RECRUITMENT AMID CHALLENGES OF POVERTY: The Role of The Media,” with the choice of the electorate in choosing Governor Peter Mbah, the Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Malachy Agbo, explained that both the theme and the choice of voters in Enugu State were in tandem with each other.
“The theme of today’s events aligns itself with the decision voters in Enugu State took in the 2023 election by recruiting somebody like His Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah as the governor. You understand that Enugu State made the right choice by recruiting somebody like him in this era,” said Dr. Agbo.
He said: “Therefore, for Enugu State Governor to say that he will eradicate poverty by 2031, it means that they (Enugu electorate) have recruited the right person for the job.” He appealed to the journalists to join the government to move the state forward. “I want to use this opportunity to invite Enugu NUJ to come with us to join the state government to move Enugu State forward,” Dr. Agbo said.
According to the Commissioner, the Enugu State NUJ Council also made the right choice in recruiting Ogbuka and his team to lead them in this era. “Leadership recruitment in our society has not eradicated poverty if and when you don’t do your recruitment well. Poverty is as a result of maladministration; poverty is as a result of leadership failures,” Agbo explained.
WHY A NATION’S GROWTH AND STABILITY DEPENDS ON LEADERSHIP
In his keynote address, the Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Simon Ortuanya, while situating the theme of the event in what many regarded as “its proper context”, told the gathering point-blank that the “growth, development and stability” of any country worth her salt, depended chiefly on the “quality of its leaders” who govern the nation.
Ortuanya said that good leadership was “pivotal to the development of any nation”, hence there was a need for “proper recruitment of quality leadership” to drive growth and development of such a nation.
GLOBAL CRISES FALLOUTS OF BAD LEADERSHIP
Represented on the occasion by the UNN Deputy Vice Chancellor, (DVC), Academics, Prof. Olayewole Usman, Ortuanya stressed that “for any nation to get a quality leadership, the recruitment has to be thorough to ensure that a square peg is put in a square hole,” pointing out that most of the crises in the world are hinged on bad leadership.
Ortuanya attributed the quantum of poverty index being witnessed in the society to the wrong choice of leaders who might have emerged through “manipulation or violence, which often fuels apathy” among the electorate in an election.
He reiterated his earlier stance: “The growth, development, and stability of any nation depends on the quality of its leaders and the way they came about, that is, the way they were recruited.” He bemoaned the fact that the recruitment of political leadership in Nigeria is “nothing to write home about.”
According to him, “You may remember that the recruitment processes in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. A good leader is pivotal to the development of the nation. The world is facing a leadership crisis because of the leadership question.” Ortuanya added that even “wars, insecurity, and biting poverty are occasioned by bad leadership.”
The Vice Chancellor pleaded with the media, “who are the mouthpiece of the people,” to always educate the masses to choose their leaders wisely so as to have a “sane and better society.”
A QUICK TRIP TO THE PAST
However, in his erudite speech, the immediate past NUJ President, Dr. Chris Isiguzo outlined some of key achievements of his six-year administration, which, he said, cut across registration of members, building of the NUJ website, restoration of peace in state councils, building of cordial relationship between the NUJ and various state governments, training, payment of staff salary and other feats.
Isiguzo emphasised that the NUJ has a voice now, unlike in the past. “Before now, they concessioned printing of their identity cards and an outsider had to tell them who their members were,” recalled the former president regretfully.
He equally recalled pitiably the issue of the NUJ’s website, which, before now, was attached to somebody’s business venture, but when he was elected as the national president, “we had to start our own (NUJ) website and started printing our own Identity card.” Isiguzo added that his administration came up with a customised register which enabled the union to know her members and “checkmate electoral malpractices, where none members were brought in to vote during NUJ elections.”.
Chief Isiguzo remembered that although nothing was handed over to him as an asset when he assumed office, his administration worked and left office without being indebted.
The former NUJ national president said all his achievements would be sustained because the current National president, Comrade Yahaya, was his vice and he knew much about their programmes and he continued with those programes, because “we believed in continuity and with continuity, our achievements would be sustained.”
AN ERROR IN HISTORY
Dr Isiguzo said that National President Comrade Yahaya was the first journalist from the North East to become NUJ national president, just like himself, who was also the first journalist from the SouthEast to assume the position of the national president since the inception of the NUJ. Dr Isiguzo said Yahaya recorded 77 .7 % of the NUJ election because he had served in different capacities, from zonal secretary to zonal vice President, from there to National vice president, and now NUJ national president.
Isiguzo recalled that journalists were not having a cordial relationship with some governors – an issue he said, “we corrected at the time.” He said they had to build a cordial relationship with governors and enjoyed such a cordial relationship which was not like that before.
Comrade Isiguzo also spoke about some people who formed what he called “clubs” within the NUJ. He bemoaned what he described as “clubs” in the union, for instance, “The guild of editors” and others which sprang up to take over the union, saying the “club is not NUJ.”
PUTTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
But as if to correct what many regard as an error in NUJ history, NewsBits recalls that Bonnie Iwuoha from Abia State became the national President of NUJ years before another Abia State man, Comrade Isiguzo, got elected as President.
“Isiguzo is not the first Igbo man from the present southeast geo-political zone to head the national body of the NUJ. Bonnie came before him. But if you talk of Igbo generally, then Isiguzo is the 3rd, coming after Bonnie and late Ndangene Akwu from Ikwere, Rivers State, during the time of Dr. Peter Odili as governor. Ndangene took from Smart Adeyemi, who later became a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” a veteran journalist, Sir Abuchi Anueyiagu, who once was correspondent of NATIONAL INTEREST Newspapers and ThisDay newspapers in Enugu respectively, told NewsBits in a chat.
“Bonnie Iwuoha was the first person from the present southeast geopolitical zone to occupy the seat of the national president of the NUJ. He was from Abia State,” Anueyiagu repeated.
The veteran journalist recalled that Bonnie started his NUJ politics from the old Imo State where he worked at The Statesman, the Imo State government-owned newspaper, until the creation of Abia State. Bonnie relocated to Umuahia and later worked for The Ambassador, the Abia State government-owned newspaper established by late Dr Ogbonnaya Onu when he became the first civilian governor of Abia State, according to Anueyiagu, who was quick to add: “It was Ogbonnaya who built the popular Umuahia Tower at the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway.”
VOTE SELLING Vs VOTE BUYING
However, the chairman of the occasion and Senior Special Assistant to Governor Mbah on External Relations, Mazi Uche Anichukwu, focused his speech on good governance and vote buying. He warned against vote buying and selling, stressing that, “if you want good governance, go for good governance. If you want to sell your vote, you will end up like Esau, who sold his birthright. It has never been quite well with him.”
Anichukwu also said: “So, anytime anybody is selling his or her vote, the person should bear in mind that he is selling his conscience or her conscience. He is selling his future, his or her destiny, or posterity. It’s garbage in, garbage out!”
He further cautioned: “as you make your bed, so you lie on it. What will be the role of journalists primarily is to conscientious our people, educate them, pick their microphones, pick their pens, pick their cameras, pick their tablets to begin to write, to educate our people, to begin to educate them, look, don’t sell your vote.”
“If you sell your vote, you have already given away your next four years and beyond. Look at what Governor Mbah is doing. Talk about the electricity sector, talk about the water sector, talk about security, talk about agriculture, talk about education, talk about health; talk about reviving moribund assets; when you look at what he is doing, you will see someone who, not only came with elaborate vision, but who also came with a whole idea and total commitment to serving the people. This is a government where you get a contract awarded to you without knowing anybody and without anybody asking you for a dime,” Anichukwu said.
According to him, “When you are with the right person, you will know. This year Enugu State is doing 86% capital expenditure and 14% current expenditure. Look at how he had plugged all the revenue loopholes in the revenue generation ecosystem, and look at how he skyrocketed the state’s revenue from about twenty-something billion naira to almost two hundred billion naira. How do you explain that? It’s dedication, it’s commitment. He hasn’t come to steal. So, I believe come 2027, Enugu people are going to reward him.”
ISIGUZO HAS SHOWN US “THE WAY TO GO”
Interestingly, the newly inaugurated Enugu State Council Chairman, Comrade Obinna Ogbuka, said he was delighted to welcome the immediate past national president, Dr. Isiguzo.
Ogbuka declared: “Today was set aside to welcome home our leader who had shown us the way and that way is the way to go, Comrade Dr Chris Isiguzo, who is Enugu State Council homeboy. He had been around with us as a two-term Vice President, Zone C he is still a member of the Correspondents’ Chapel here.”
The Council Chairman further said: “Thank you for being part of this event, the beginning of this journey to reposition the NUJ in Enugu state.” And he made a passionate appeal to stakeholders for support to the council, he said, which was in dire need of assistance, having been confronted by many challenges.
FAKE JOURNALISTS “GIVING US BAD NAME!”
Specifically, Ogbuka pleaded with stakeholders, the governments at all levels, and well-spirited individuals for support, stressing that “the NUJ is facing a lot of challenges. I want to say this, because of the advent of technology, anybody that has Smart Phone now claims to be a journalist, making our job very difficult. In fact, they are giving us a bad name because they are not trained and they are practicing.”
Bemoaning the advent of smartphones and the negative impact of quack journalists, Ogbuka said, “So, I want to say today that the fake news you are seeing or hearing, they are not from authentic journalists. So today, we gathered here to begin a new phase of the NUJ in Enugu. I want to assure the national president and our leaders today that we will do our best to reposition the NUJ in the state.”
Ogbuka, however, has a word for the journalists and the Governor Mbah-led Enugu state government. He said: “We will do our best. We will contribute our quota, especially now that we have an innovative and disruptive governor. The journalists in Enugu were striving seriously to be disruptive in order to cover all the good works of Governor Peter Mbah in transforming the state, and the NUJ under our watch will rise to that challenge.”
In a vote of thanks, the chairman of the inauguration/homecoming planning committee, and chairman of the Correspondents’ chapel, Comrade Lawrence Njoku, expressed gratitude to God for a successful event. Njoku also thanked all who supported the committee in organising the event as well as those who attended the ceremony.
The event also featured the presentation of gifts by various groups of journalists within the southeast zone to Comrade Isiguzo, who was described as “our own home-boy”.
