A Civil Society Organization (CSO) under the aegis of Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has expressed condemned over annulment of  what it described as free, fair ,credible and generally acceptable Osun Council of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) election where Comrade Abiodun Olalere of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation(OSBC) and Comrade Boladale Bamigbola of the National Mirror Newspapers emerged Chairman and Secretary of the Union respectively.

The group also maintained that the annulment of Osun NUJ election was a replication of the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election won by late business mogul, Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola, without any concrete justification by the then anti-democratic forces led by General Ibrahim Babangida.

The group equally decried the role played by the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Waheed Odusile and the former Commissioner for Information and Strategy and as well as Consultant on Information and Strategy to Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, Mr. Sunday Akere in the annulment process, saying that the people of Osun State rejected the action of the Union’s National body under Odusile watch.

In a statement issued and signed by the CSCEOS’ Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Sulaiman and sent to The Street Reporters, the group insisted that the Union’s national body’s action was unacceptable to the good people of Osun State, adding that the annulment was done in bad faith and politically motivated.

The group alleged that Mr. Akeere on behalf of State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, instigated Odusile-led national body of the Union to annul the election.

According to him, “it was unacceptable to annul the recently conducted Osun State Council of NUJ election which devoid of acrimony among the contestants and stakeholders, during the electioneering process. We believe that development is political and deed in bad faith to satisfy Mr. Waheed Odusile and Mr. Sunday Akeere’s paying master (Mr. Rauf Aregbesola).This is high time for politicians in the country, particularly, in Osun State, to know that most of the associations and unions had free from their political bondage in order to restore their lost glory”.

Comrade Sulaiman described the annulment as unconstitutional, undemocratic, evil, anti-journalists, ungodly, aberration, anathema and action against media profession and humanity, calling on the lovers of noble profession to come out and condemned the barbaric act of Odusile led -National Union of Journalists(NUJ).

He then enjoined the national body of the Union to reverse its illegal action on the Council Union election in Osun State by upholding the election, urging those who wrote frivolous petition against the Union peaceful, credible, free, fair and transparent election to withdraw their alleged petition so as to allow the peace to reign in the respected noble profession by accepting the outcome of the election with the spirit of sportsmanship.

Sulaiman therefore warned those who were not members of the Union and using some elements within the union to discredit the just concluded Union election to desist from the dastardly act and not returning Nigeria back to the dark days of military era where democratic processes were suspended at will, adding that the just concluded election of the Union(NUJ) in Osun State has been the reference for future Unions’ elections in the State.

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