Media Chat: How Delta Council Chairmen Shunned NUJ Invitation‎ ‎

Outgoing Local Government chairmen of Delta State who were invited by the State Executive of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Wednesday, disappointed the esteemed members of the fourth estate of the realm, as some of those invited are said to have shunned the programme.‎
An online news medium, Emeraldng.com, reports that the invitation was meant to give opportunity to the chairmen who have been in office for the past three years to give stewardship and tell their constituents how they have fared and what programme they have initiated to change the living conditions of their people.‎
This initiative we learnt was embarked on by the state executive council of the NUJ in furtherance of the watchdog role of journalists all over the world, as part of strategies to make the government accountable to their people and entrench transparency in the utilisation of available resources.‎
With the knowledge that the 25 local government chairmen would be stepping out of office on the 25th of October, 2017, the state leadership of the NUJ thought it fit to invite the chairmen to show their scorecard thus far.‎‎
The event was fixed to run from Monday, September 25 to October 23, 2017. On Monday, two chairmen, Oshimili South, Barrister John Obusom and Oshimili North, Louis Ndukwe, were billed to open the floor.
We however gathgred that Obusom showed up and spoke extensively and intelligently with the journalists. But, Ndukwe, it was gathered dropped a message pleading to be rescheduled for Wednesday, September 27, 2017 as that would be more convenient for him.‎
Following that arrangement, three chairmen were to appear on Wednesday. But to the surprise of the state executive council of the NUJ, none of the three chairmen showed up for the interaction with the journalists on the said day.‎
As the waiting continued from 10am to 11am, the chairman of Aniocha north, Chuks Oseme dropped a message, noting that he was undergoing screening at the local government PDP secretariat in preparation for the local government party primary election.‎
Consequently, he was said to have requested for a shift from 10 am to 2pm, a plea which was granted by the NUJ executive who had waited patiently at the labour house.‎
But, others including Louis Ndukwe from Oshimili north and Isaac Anwuzia from Aniocha south neither sent messages nor showed up for the interaction with the waiting journalists, whose constituents might also be waiting to hear what their chairmen had done for them during the past three years.
After waiting, the journalists dispersed and left to attend to other issues ‎‎
Although some persons said the NUJ executive did not make solid arrangement with the local government chairmen, a few others were of the view that the local government chairmen have nothing to offer, noting that for the three years of their stay in office, they could not affect the lives of their people, hence, there was no need coming to appear before journalists who might throw them off balance with unexpected questions.

By Dafe Rukevwe