Mr Chuks Ehirim, the newly elected Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Abuja Council, has pledged to build a stronger union that will be committed to the welfare of members.
Ehirim made the pledge in Abuja on Saturday at the inauguration of the new executive committee of the union.
He said the new executive would carry along all journalists in its task of rebuilding a virile union that would be the pride of all journalists in the FCT.
Ehirim thanked members of the union for voting for honesty and integrity, saying that the new committee would not let them down.
The chairman said that the union, under his leadership, would fight for the rights of members and ensure that professionalism was restored.
The Zone `D’ Secretary of the union, Mr Wilson Bako, advised all parties in the election to put heads together for the development of the union.
Bako said this would be invaluable in transforming the union and restoring the dignity of the profession.
He thanked all members of the Abuja council for their cooperation in the conduct of the election adjudged to be free and fair.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ehirim, of the National Accord newspaper, won the chairmanship position by polling 252 votes.
Two other contestants, Mr Ben Bright of Business News online; and Mr Abdulrahman Balogun of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN polled 110 and 109 votes respectively.
Mr Emmanuel Ogbeche of Abuja Enquirer won the post of Secretary with 292 votes, defeating Mrs Rafat Salami of Voice of Nigeria (VON), who got 224.
Mrs Amaka Ene of FRCN won the post of Assistant Secretary with 289 votes, while Mr Primus Kanoba of Aso Radio was returned as Vice-Chairman with 271 votes.
NAN also reports that some people, described as fake journalists, were arrested by security agents deployed to the venue of the election.
NAN learned that the arrested persons were mobilised by a yet-to-be-identified aspirant to vote but were detected by the Electoral Committee members.
The election was observed by NUJ National Assistant Secretary, Mr Seyi Adekeye, with other officials from the national secretariat of the union. (NAN)