By SAM ADZEGEH

It was pitiful having to read through a lengthy treatise with the above title written by one Comrade Kenneth Ofoma, who vehemently insisted that his is a response to my earlier piece strongly condemning ‘endorsement’ as a means of choosing the leadership of any organization, especially one with the credibility and dynamism of the NUJ.

Instead of presenting the merits of endorsement over and above the time-tested tenets of free and fair democracy, the writer completely and deliberately refused to engage on issues as raised in my submission, but chose to dwell on the personalities of persons opposed to his much cherished system of leadership recruitment. At a point, the good Comrade described those of us opposed to the obnoxious and induced ‘endorsement’ as ‘a relentless feeble attempt’ by ‘bitter souls who are envious…’

On another level, he described the write-up of the ‘Save-NUJ-NOW! Movement’ as “the watery, disjointed write up by our opponents under the fake pseudonym and non-existent group, “’SAVE-NUJ-NOW!’ Movement”, which name the dear Comrade describes as a pseudonym.

In spite of the innuendos and outright insults heaped on members of our group, I submit that we refuse to be dragged into the sewer of personal attacks and insults. Those who are very comfortable there are by all means entitled to remain there (for life), for all we care.

We commend Ofoma and other merchants of the ‘endorsement’ enterprise for a good ‘market’; if na you nko?

We however insist that such fake endorsements like the ones being hyped up by the Ufomas of the NUJ are not new in our political clime. One remembers a similar endorsement by a group of parties which the late sage, Chief Bola Ige described as ‘five leprous fingers of one hand’.

Another group of bandits with the hurrayish-sounding acronym, ‘YEAA’, also comes to mind. From history, we know that such endorsements, which usually go for a thousand naira for ten thousand, are easy picking any day of the year. We also know that they usually end up exactly where they belong – the trash can of history. Ask Daniel Kanu and leaders of the five leprous fingers. Just a reminder too. A former NUJ President, late Ndagene Aku got similar endorsements from some Councils, yet lost the election to his then Deputy and respected former President, Malam Muhammad Garba.

We also know for sure that lovers of endorsements are usually persons with low self-esteem and inferiority complex who are in mortal fear of any form of competition.

NUJ delegates to Owerri and indeed, all well-meaning members of our great NUJ are again enjoined to insist on a free and fair democratic process in which all contenders interface with delegates in a convenient and conducive atmosphere. Any candidate confident of his or her qualifications, pedigree and historical antecedents, should not be afraid of competing in such an atmosphere.

Attempting to intimate NUJ members with false narrations of tainted democratic processes home and away just won’t cut it;

Owerri must mark the beginning of the return of true democracy in the Union’s selection of national leadership. Enough of the conquest style where an outgoing leadership is blackmailing Councils to embark on fake endorsements like the recent one that took place in Enugu where members were openly insulted and threatened for refusing to agree to fake endorsement.

The results are indeed already trickling in as journalists who are the owners of the NUJ are determined to ensure a return of the Union to the members and not to hijackers. This way, the practice will trickle down to elections at Council levels and eventually mark the return of true greatness to the NUJ.

•Sam Adzegeh, Convener, ‘Save NUJ NOW! Movement’, was a member of the NUJ Constitution Review Committee, 2011 (Benin, Edo State), and a practicing journalist based in Kaduna, Nigeria. 07066651485