Secret Reporters No place to hide
Fejiro Oliver
It was a tug of war on Sunday in Sapele, Delta State when the Urhobo Political Forum (UPF), Sapele Chapter hosted the National body of the pressure group as Journalists threw caution to the wind, by turning the event into a boxing ring.
According to our ever reliable source who witnessed the show of shame, the UPF National Chairman gave the Journalists present the sum of N100,000 to share among themselves, but one Odudu Timeyin who parades himself as a pastor took the money to a corner alongside some Journalists and began to use a sharing formula which never went down well with some of the Journalists present.
We reliable gathered that he was challenged by a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) broadcaster, who stated that money given to broadcast Journalists are always in two places, for the camera man and reporter on duty; a logic which the said Odudu frowned out. His refusal to follow procedures, by insisting that it is on Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) basis sparked off a heated argument between the NTA staff and Odudu.
Our source noted that Odudu immediately pulled his suit and challenged the reporter to a boxing bout, while he was being held back by other members. Torrents of words were uttered by the NTA reporter who stated that he was a fake Journalists without any tertiary certificate and should stop parading himself as a Journalist, especially as the NUJ Sapele Chapel Secretary, as there is no chapel in Sapele.
Further investigation by our reporters revealed that Odudu who claimed to be a graduate of Delta State University (DELSU) Abraka from the Mass Communication department has never seen the four walls of any tertiary institution. Some of our readers who mailed us confided in Elombah.com on how he had earlier told them that he read political science from DELSU, but was later found out to be a lie. More revelations with documents at our disposals shows that he forged all the certificates he tendered to contest for the NUJ position, alongside the Chapel Chairman, Andrew Owhobete, who also claimed to be graduate of University of Benin (UNIBEN). Our check at UNIBEN shows that no such person has ever graduated from the University, as the University source noted that they will report his case to the security for appropriate action. These two ‘Journalists’ we have authoritatively gathered are quacks in the profession, who go about town using the union name to defraud people.
A local facebook page, Sapele Tafia, who also monitored the fight, has called on the State Council of the NUJ to immediately suspend the said Odudu and his cohorts for fighting in public and using the union name for fraud. Calls placed to some reporters in Sapele confirmed that they are aware on his illegal certificate and have also called on him to resign and leave the profession alongside the Chairman.
