The planned election of the Lagos State chapter of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) was, on Thursday, disrupted following a court injunction by the immediate past Chairman, Sekinat Lawal, stopping the exercise.
The court order was served on the union after the executive had been dissolved and about one hour into the voting process.
When the court bailiff was asked why the court order was not served earlier, he simply said: “it is none of your business.”
Meanwhile, some members of the association who came out en masse to vote have expressed disappointment over the turn of event, describing it as “an act of sabotage.”
Yewande Onisemo, the Public Affairs Officer, Lagos State Ministry of Information, said it was not right for the past chairman to “intimidate the union and sabotage the election process.”
“Initially, everything was calm until the immediate past Chairman, Sekinat Lawal, came with a court order.
“She felt intimidated because she saw the number of people that came to support her opponent, Adeola Ekine. I think they are trying to sabotage the voting process,” she said.
On her part, Ekine, who is vying for the position of the Chairman, said: “I do not know anything about the court injunction. We are here to vote.”
The candidate also debunked the rumour going round the venue that some accredited voters for the election were not registered members of NAWOJ.
”Our people have their valid ID cards and are qualified members of NAWOJ; our people came out en masse to vote,” she said.
Another official of the state Ministry of Information, who pleaded anonymity, said the court injunction should have come 24 hours before the voting began, adding ”this is just a way to disrupt the voting process”.
