By Terhemen Ater
On 25 May 2025, WikkiTimes published a commentary titled “How the NUJ Under Alhassan Yahaya Can Avoid the Toxic Legacies of Chris Isiguzo”, authored by Mr Haruna Mohammed Salisu. What was framed as a critique quickly descended into a vitriolic tirade, replete with conjecture, selective memory, and an unmistakable undertone of personal animus.
This rejoinder is not borne out of blind allegiance to Dr Chris Isiguzo, the immediate past President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). Rather, it is compelled by a responsibility to uphold the truth, maintain historical accuracy, and defend the principles of fair critique. The record must be set straight, for the sake of journalism, leadership, and posterity.
Mr Salisu opens with a flurry of unsubstantiated claims, alleging corruption, compromise, and betrayal of Press Freedom. He points to awards given to Governors as though they alone undermine an entire administration. But since when has stakeholder engagement become a crime, particularly when it yields tangible benefits?
What Mr Salisu mistakes for compromise was in many cases diplomacy. What he decries as silence was strategic advocacy. Press Freedom is not solely championed through angry rhetoric; it also requires deft negotiation, careful balance, and pragmatic interaction with the very systems one seeks to reform.
The conferment of awards, controversial or otherwise, does not amount to ethical capitulation. If Mr Salisu believes that meaningful engagement must always be antagonistic, then he clearly lacks a nuanced understanding of leadership in a complex and pluralistic society.
Dr Isiguzo inherited a union teetering on the edge of irrelevance. His tenure marked a reinvigoration of purpose and process.
Institutional Gains Included:
Revival of long-dormant state councils
Digitisation of records and standardisation of documentation
Restoration of internal democracy through credible elections
Regular congresses and enforcement of constitutional procedures
Reform rarely announces itself with fanfare, it builds quietly, through structure.
Mr Salisu conveniently omits the many journalists who benefitted from interventions that resolved salary arrears during Isiguzo’s presidency. Conflict resolution frameworks were established to replace fruitless protests with meaningful negotiation, securing actual wages, not empty applause.
The omissions in Mr Salisu’s account are glaring. Under Isiguzo’s leadership, over 2,000 Journalists received training in:
Digital journalism (in partnership with Google West Africa)
Election reporting (INEC-supported programmes)
Journalist safety (UNESCO)
Legal advocacy and rights (SERAP, CJID)
Crisis and migration reporting (JIFORM)
Ironically, many of the administration’s most vocal critics were beneficiaries of these initiatives, some as facilitators, others as funded participants. Records exist. Their names are there. Travel, accommodation, and stipends were all covered through partnerships brokered by Isiguzo’s leadership.
To now claim the administration accomplished “nothing” is not critique, it is intellectual dishonesty.
Let the facts speak clearly:
Vocal opposition to the 2020 Social Media Bill
Public condemnation of the misuse of the Cybercrime Act
Co-founding of the National Media Complaints Commission (ombudsman)
Timely interventions in the cases of Agba Jalingo, Omoyele Sowore, Jones Abiri, Segun Olatunji, Daniel Ojukwu, and indeed, even the publisher of WikkiTimes himself
To assert that the NUJ was “silent” during these moments is to wilfully ignore reality. Unlike some NGOs content with issuing press statements, Isiguzo’s NUJ engaged power directly, behind closed doors and in the public sphere, demanding accountability.
Under Dr Isiguzo’s stewardship:
All inherited debts were settled prior to handover
Staff gratuities were paid in full upon retirement. The Ben those still in service at the National Secretariat had all their outstanding dating back several years cleared.
Significant funds were left in the union’s coffers to enable the new leadership to take off strongly.
Two independent audits were made publicly available
These are verifiable acts of prudent financial management, not hearsay or speculation, an achievement most unions struggle to replicate.
Beyond domestic reform, Chris Isiguzo raised the international profile of Nigerian journalism:
Elected President, Congress of African Journalists (CAJ). His tenure is still running.
First African to Chair the Belt and Road Journalists Network based in Beijing, China
Currently Vice President (Africa), World Journalists Federation
These roles gave Nigerian journalists unprecedented access to international fellowships, professional development, and global platforms. To omit such accomplishments is not oversight, it is deliberate revisionism.
Yes, some award presentations attracted criticism. But no administration, no matter how transformative, is free from actions that might not age well. Must an entire tenure be judged by one photograph? Shall we prefer an NUJ that shouts from the sidelines, or one that secures real gains through strategic presence at the table?
The most regrettable aspect of Mr Salisu’s article is its attempt to weaponise the past in order to elevate the present. This is not statesmanship, it is opportunism cloaked in pseudo-journalistic prose.
Alhassan Yahya deserves the support of all stakeholders, not a bitterly framed inheritance. He will find greater success building on solid foundations than starting afresh in a landscape poisoned by unnecessary factionalism.
Dr Chris Isiguzo’s legacy is not flawless, no legacy ever is. But it is far from the caricature Mr Salisu attempts to paint. His tenure rejuvenated the NUJ, financially, institutionally, and reputationally.
To disregard this is not critique, it is character assassination.
Let facts, not feuds, shape our collective memory.
Let truth, not bitterness, be the compass by which journalism evaluates its leaders.
And to Mr Salisu: criticism is a noble craft. But it demands honesty, not hostility.
Next time, consider facts over fiction, history over hostility.
Because in the end, the truth always endures.
Comrade Terhemen Ater is a Benue-Based Journalist.
He can be reached on
[email protected]_
