Desertherald Publisher, Mamu Tukur has replied to the Nigeria’s Union of Journalist, NUJ Investigative committee. According to Mamu in his letter to NUJ, he said; “based on the advice of my lawyers, I wish to state that I will not appear before your ‘committee’ on Thursday 11th July, 2013 until all the issues raised in my first letter are fairly addressed by you.”
Read the Full Details of the letter below
DH/FZ1/SC/103/Vol.3 9th July, 2013
The Chairman,
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),
Investigative Committee
Re: INVITATION TO APPEAR BEFORE YOUR COMMITTEE ON COMPLAINT OF ALLEGED PERPETRATION OF BLACKMAIL, EXTORTION AND LIBEL
With reference to your letter on the above subject, dated 2nd July, 2013, I wish to state as follows:-
·That I still stand by all the contents of my earlier letter (also attached herewith) with reference No. DH/FZ1/SC/101/Vol.3 that was sent to the President of your Union on 29th June, 2013.
·That in addition to the content of the attached letter, which are part of my legitimate conditions and rights to voluntarily appear before your ‘committee’, the following issues of law which contradict and violate the laws and constitution of your union should be put on record for Nigerians and other stakeholders across the world to appreciate and determine the desperation of the leadership of your union to accomplish a carefully scripted job;
·That as at today 9th July, 2013 precisely ten days after the attached letter was submitted to your president there is no formal or informal reply from your union addressing the fundamental issues I raised;
·That as at today 9th July, 2013, less than 48 hours to the commencement of your ‘committee’s’ hearing in Kaduna which you expect me to appear, you are yet to comply with the provisions of your own constitution by giving me the content of the so called petition and the ‘recorded transcript’ to study before facing you to answer questions regarding the allegations. Article 7 Procedure 2 of your constitution is very clear on that. It states that “Where a complaint has been made against a particular journalist (not a publisher), the journalist shall be notified of such a complaint in WRITING and given at least TWENTY ONE DAYS NOTICE within which he shall prepare his defence and appear before the committee”. The interval between the date you constituted your ‘committee’ and the date you want me to respond, despite flagrant disregard to Article 7 Procedure 2 of your constitution, is only ten days, thereby disregarding the constitutional provision of 21 days notice, while I am still left in the dark about the nature of the allegation;
·That going by the provision above, it becomes clear that either the leadership of your union is acting out of ignorance or it has been compromised and is embarking on a hatchet job;
·That going by the provision of Article 7 No. 1C of your own constitution which requires the constitution of a “five-man standing committee to handle complaints of professional and or ethical misconduct of journalists (not publishers)” and considering your hasty decision to appoint only three members instead of five, your committee and whatever it will come out with is illegal and that you don’t have such powers under the law to “interact” with or investigate a none member of your union except you are assuming the powers of a dictator with wanton violation of the law and due process in line with a dictated script;
·That in any case, why did your ‘committee’ deliberately fail to invite and meet with the petitioner, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Sen. Bala Muhammad and instead chose to entertain three of his officials during your secret hearing in Abuja? Why did you choose a separate hearing for them without giving me the right to ask them questions before you, based on their concocted submissions?
·That going by the pronouncement of the president of your union even before the commencement of the committee’s work on radio and television stations, it’s clear that whatever you are doing as a committee is just a formality because the leadership of your union has not only shown sufficient reason to make me believe that you have compromised but already prepared what it’s ‘judgement’ will be.;
·That the nation and posterity will judge you because of the predictable outcome of your report, considering the fact that the issue you are ‘investigating’ is currently before a court of law in suit No: CV/3277/13 at Abuja High Court but yet you are desperate to violate the law by investigating what is before a competent court. This is also in view of your glaring failure to adhere to the provisions of your own constitution, due process, transparency as well as the provisions of fundamental human rights all of which have not only been discredited by the union, but have certainly failed in whatever purpose it was intended; and
·Lastly that if Article 3 of your constitution, which clearly states “A person shall not be a member of the union, except if registered by the National Secretariat of the union on the recommendation of the state council” (and as you know I haven’t) is anything to go by, one wonders the desperation by your union to assume powers you clearly haven’t on a none member and publisher of a registered paper;
In view of the failure to respond and act on my concerns in my first letter to you, gross violation and disregard to your own constitution, that of the court and going by all the above which are all issues of the law, due process and fundamental human rights which you flagrantly ignored and violated, I find it difficult to comprehend how the NUJ under the current leadership can “restore the glory of the journalism as an objective and trustworthy profession;” and as such and based on the advice of my lawyers, I wish to state that I will not appear before your ‘committee’ on Thursday 11th July, 2013 until all the issues raised in my first letter are fairly addressed by you. With this you can conveniently go ahead and present your one-sided report for Nigerians and stakeholders across the world to judge you as well.
Yours sincerely,
Mal. Tukur Mamu
(Dan-Iyan Fika)
Publisher/Chairman
DESERT HERALD
CC: Nigerian Press Council (NPC)
Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN)
Inspector General of Police, Luis Edit House, Abuja
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
Sadau Garba and Company, Kaduna
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York
Reporters Without Border, Paris
Protection Rights of Journalists of Africa (PRJA), Cape Town, South Africa
Human Rights for Journalists, Canada
The Ethical Journalism Initiative, Brussels, Belgium
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, Germany
International Federation of Journalism, Brussels, Belgium
