Comrade Abbas Yusha’u Yusuf has been elected as the new National Treasurer of the Northern Online Media Reporters and Publishers (NORP) following the Union’s national executive election held on Saturday at Arewa House in Kaduna.
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Yusuf, who emerged unopposed, joins other newly elected officials in leading the Union into a new phase of development.
Comrade Musa Mohammed from Kaduna State was elected the new Executive National President after a closely contested race, securing 287 votes. His opponent, Comrade Lynn Adda, the former NUJ chairman from Taraba State, received 138 votes. Meanwhile, Comrade Femi Adi from Kogi State won the Executive National Secretary position with 210 votes, narrowly defeating Comrade Rayyan Al-Hassan, who garnered 207 votes.
As per the Union’s constitution, the Deputy National Secretary and National Assistant Secretary positions went to Comrade Lynn Adda and Comrade Rayyan Al-Hassan, respectively, as they secured the second-highest votes in the national secretary race.
In addition to Abbas Yusha’u Yusuf’s election as National Treasurer, other positions were filled unopposed, including Comrade Zaharaddeen Ishaq Zailani as National Financial Secretary and Comrade Abraham Suleman as Assistant National Financial Secretary.
In his acceptance speech, Comrade Musa Mohammed, the newly elected president, urged NORP members from across the 19 northern states to leverage social media platforms to combat fake news and promote good governance. He emphasized that professional journalists must take charge of social media to ensure its reliability as a source of information.
“Our greatest headache is the citizen journalist problem, where anyone can post anything online without verifying the source or authenticating such stories. But the good thing is that professional journalists are taking over now,” he said.
He pledged to uphold the ethics of the profession and expressed his commitment to ensuring the Union’s unity and progress during his three-year term.