The protracted legal battle of the Federated Correspondents Chapel of the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) ended on Monday May 4, 2026 with the Legacy Correspondents flooring the Federated Correspondents with far reaching impact on the Union in the country.
In a landmark judgment, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Port Harcourt Judicial Division ruled in favour of the Legacy team led by Akpekwu Christopher Imbufe as Lead Claimant in a suit against the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Delivering judgment at Court No. 3, Honourable Justice Buhari Sani resolved six (6) out of eight (8) issues in favour of the Claimants, resulting in a decisive 6–2 victory.
The Court, in its ruling declared the suspension of some members of the Legacy team as null and void and awarded a five Million Naira damages against the defendants as well as directing the immediate release of their withheld allowances for eight years.
In addition, the court also clarified the scope of union powers, saying that: “the NUJ Rivers State Council and the National body have no authority to interfere in the internal affairs of chapels, except in a supervisory capacity.”
This judgment stands as a defining precedent in union governance, reinforcing the limits of administrative overreach and affirming the rights of members within professional bodies.
The victory of Akpekwu Christopher Imbufe represents a significant milestone in union jurisprudence, with far-reaching implications for internal democracy, due process, and constitutional interpretation within the NUJ and similar organizations.
Justice Buhari Sani
Akpekwu Christopher Imbufe, the lead Claimant expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling because the court based its ruling on the 2014 guidelines rather than that of 2018 as they canvassed before the honourable court.
“Our lawyers are studying the judgement and we’re prepared to take the necessary step based on their advice,” he told newsmen shortly after the ruling.
However, in a Press Release same day in Port Harcourt, they stated, “We want to thank all our supporters and well wishers for standing by us, all these eight years in the course of this trial.”
See the Press Release below
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Press Release
Akpekwu Imbufe and others Vs NUJ, Judgment, A Mixed Grill
Judgment has been delivered in suit number NICN/04/PHC/2018 today at the Industrial Court, Port Harcourt Division, Rivers State, in a pre-election matter of the Correspondents Chapel election of 2018.
Justice Sani Buhari held that
1) The suit is not academic, that it is alive and so resolve in favor of the claimant
2) That the suit was prematurely filled without exhausting internal mechanism as argued by the defendants, the Court resolved that internal mechanism applied only to professional misconduct and discipline of NUJ members and do not apply to pre-election matter as in this case. And that those internal mechanism were not onground to start with as admitted by their own witnesses.
3. That article 3(1&2) of the NUJ constitution, relating to qualification for membership of the NUJ, is based on the possession of a diploma in journalism or mass communication as argued by the defendants, The court agreed with claimants interpretation of article 3(1&2) which held that journalism or mass communication is not a mandatory registration requirements. That the mandatory requirements is a diploma in any field.
4) On suspension of the claimants , the court held that claimants suspension was unlawful and arbitrary and set it aside. What this means is that caimants are free to practice journalism as it were asmit is of no effect.
5) The court also agreed with the plaintiff that the state’s NUJ has no business in meddling in chapel election. Their roles stops on supervision of elections. Judgment has restored the right to screen candidates for election on the election Screening committee.
6) The judge resolved the issue of damages in favor of the claimants and this underscored the fact that claimants won the case.
There are two areas that the judge did not agree with the claimants: and one area is eligibility of the 1,2,3 claimants. The judge held that based on the 2014 guidelines, claimants were not eligible to contest the election. We disagree with this part of the judgement because eligibility is regulated by article 6 of the NUJ. Secondly, the defendant did not fight this case on the basis of 2014 guidelines. Claimants are shocked that the judge made this a ground for saying that claimants 1,2, 3 are not eligible to contest the 2018 election. Under article 6, claimants are qualified to contest the 2018 election.
The second ground of the judgement which is on the qualification of Chief Ernest Chinwo, to serve for another term after having server for five years is that the two years term he served through bye election is not to counted in computing what amounts to two terms of three years per term. We disagree with this part of the judgement because, the NUJ constitution did not expressly provide that a tenure that is served through by election should not be taken into account in the computation of what amounts to maximum of two terms.
It is not the business of the court to fill gaps in the NUJ constitution. These are the areas that the court ruled against us and we believed the judge erred in law.
However, we have asked our lawyers to apply for a certified true copy of the judgment to enable us study the meaning of the pronouncement of the judge and also proffer advise on the way forward.
For the six areas the judge gave judgment in our favor, we acknowledge that it is a big win, and the award of damages of five million naira is symbolic that we won the case.
We want to thank all our supporters and well wishers for standing by us, all these eight years in the course of this trial.
Thank you and God bless.
Signed by
Akpekwu Christopher Imbufe
Philip Ezuma
For Claimants
