Even though elections into the national executive committee of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) are still in March 2018, there are indications that the battle for the post of National President may have been narrowed to three persons.
The post of National President is currently being occupied by Prince Olayiwola Shittu, who is expected to vacate office in March 2018, having completed two terms of four years each.
Shipping Position Daily investigations revealed that the battle for ANLCA Presidency is between the trio of the current vice president; Mr Emenike Nwokedi, the incumbent National Secretary; Dr Emmanuel Oparah and a former National Secretary and current member Board of Trustees; Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike.
The association has an unwritten zoning formula which rotates its presidency between its western and eastern flanks.
Our sources confirmed that, the trio of Nwokedi, Oparah and Nwabunike are currently wooing supporters discretely since campaign has not started.
Shipping Position Daily however confirmed last week that, there are issues about modalities for the elections. A senior member of the association told one of our correspondents that, ‘’the fact is we are currently divided over whether the elections should be by AGM or by Collegiate. The AGM will involve all members of ANLCA as voters, while the Collegiate will only involve executives of the association at national, chapter and zonal levels’’. He explained that the Collegiate is cheaper and less stressful than AGM.
Pleading anonymity, a member of the association’s board of trustees who was contacted on the ambition of the three presidential candidates mentioned above, told Shipping Position Daily that it is not yet close, and that others may still come up.
He however rated the trio, and said all of them stand the chance, but added that the incumbent president’s body language may tilt the race in favour of his preferred candidate.
‘’I don’t want to lie to you by saying that the President doesn’t have a candidate, we know he does, but this does not mean he would win.
The three of them are qualified, but I tell you the ultimate decision is that of ANLCA members who want a president who can carry the mantle from Shittu (incumbent President) and represent us well.
I think our members should look for the candidate’s financial muscle, his carriage, his understanding of ANLCA politics and its publics’’.
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