The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has expressed no doubt about the alleged involvement of Mr. Chinonso Alozie, Vanguard Newspaper Correspondent and Chairman, Imo Correspondent’s Chapel in the disappearance and sale of a brand new Mercedes Van, donated to the Chapel by the administration of f Sen. Hope Uzodinma barely six months ago.
In a release signed by Imo NUJ Chairman, Comrade Precious Nwadike, he expressed disappointment that Alozie was a dedicated member of the group which sold the NUJ secretariat at Port Harcourt Road, Owerri in disguise as members of the union.
According to him, the NUJ integrity group had overtime publicly condemned and faulted the mischief, criminality and serial misconducts synonymous with Alozie’s Group, but nothing has been done by the government or security agencies, hence the continued courage and audacity to deepen crime by acclaimed journalists.
His words, “We recall with regret that Alozie was a visible member of the group which, parading themselves as members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Imo State Chapter, sold our collective heritage and commonwealth, the magnificent NUJ secretariat strategically located at
“It took the intervention of the Integrity Group of the NUJ to resist and repel that illegal move. Just few months ago, an Owerri High Court ruled that the ‘rogue’ action is null and void.
“The allusion here is that while Alozie had been arrested for this dubious and dirty deal, the security agencies, based on the antecedent of the group Alozie belongs to, which has been shown to have the penchant for illegally selling off whatever belongs to either the NUJ or the Correspondents Chapel, should do well to effectively beam their searchlight on other members of Alozie’s group.
“The point is, we, the Integrity Group of Imo NUJ have been shouting and pointing fingers at this Alozie’s group, warning about their mischief as well as non-professional approaches to issues, but no one cared to listen.
“If the case at hand did not involve selling of a vehicle donated to the Union by the Imo State Government, the Commissioner of Information, Declan Emelumba and other officials of the government, may have been their chief supporters, and would not have been bothered to take such bold step to petition and arrest the suspect.
“For record purposes, we have neither returned Alozie guilty, nor have we said he is innocent. We are only telling the public that his group sold our NUJ secretariat and on several occasions invaded our premises with the support of the immediate former national chairman, Chris Isiguzo.
“This vile attempt to sell off the NUJ secretariat, was a topic in public space for several years, yet, Government said nothing and did nothing to recover the legacy project donated by a former Military Administrator in the state, until the NUJ Integrity Group initiated necessary legal actions.
“As a matter of fact, government functionaries were backing them with Police support and clearly enabled the atrocious act.
“The resilience of the NUJ Integrity group however paid off as the court of law nullified the criminal sale of the secretariat.
“In a nutshell, what Alozie is being accused of today is exactly the same thing we were shouting about while everyone turned a deaf ear.
“If government functionaries had taken a responsible stance on the matter and told the rogue merchants that wanted to sell our union secretariat that the action was unacceptable, Chinonso Alozie may not have summoned the courage to allegedly fling the Mercedes Vehicle donated to the Chapel by Governor Hope Uzodimma, just few months a go.
“Apparently, he expected their backing like they did in the attempted sale of NUJ secretariat, but like they say: “Everyday for the thief, but one day for the owner of the house.
“While we await the final decision of the law/government on this matter, may their co-travellers, who are still waiting for their own opportunity to unleash the beast in them, learn a few lessons from Mr. Chinonso Alozie’s current misadventure”.
