Aggrieved members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council, have vowed to drag the council Chairman Adamu Yusuf, his deputy Sabiu Mohammed and the Vice President of zone ‘A’, North West, Yusuf Idris, to court for allegedly allocating the unions houses.
Yusuf Atta, who spoke on behalf of the aggrieved members, said, “Four houses located at Danbushiya new layout area allocated to the council were illegally shared among the chairman Adamu Yusuf, his Vice Sabiu Mohammed, a female non-member of the union and the Zone ‘A’ Vice President Yusuf Idris.
“Funds transactions of the council are also done in the private account of the chairman, rendering the official account dormant. This is illegal and unacceptable, part of why the council’s treasurer puts in resignation and was prevailed to withdraw, promising her that situation will improve for the better, but to no avail.
“We have collected several pieces of evidence of transaction and diversion of the union funds by the chairman and his executives, who have the backing and interest of the VP protected since 2016.
“Check up dues of the council were diverted by the chairman, the council secretary Femi John Adi and his cohorts since 2016. They didn’t make any remittance to the National Headquarters despite undertaking written to do so.
“I was removed from the council group chat twice by the chairman, who also sent a threat message privately for raising these issues,” Atta stated.
“These people have exhibited lots of high handedness with impunity without recourse to constitutional provisions of the union.
“The secretariat has been in a state of neglect. They have illegally mounted gate fare for entrance into the premises—no single functional toilet for members except the one in the chairman’s office.
“The chairman and the VP have resorted to intimidation and blackmail of any member who dared to raise any issue against them.
“We are also going to ask the court to order the VP to render an external audited account of the building projects he embarked upon through ‘Build, Operate and Transfer’ arrangement, despite a divided opposing report of the then project committee during his tenure as chairman
“The VP and the chairman have also failed to secure Certificate of Occupancy or remit ground rent to government for the secretariate, which has made it open to the risk of revocation.
“We know that some of their apologists will be sponsored to attack us. We are ready for them so long as they will present evidence to counter us,” he added.
