Even as the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) is yet to announce the date for it's coming national elections, the camp one of the contestants for the position of President; Mr Emenike Nwokeoji appears not satisfied with the constitution of the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO).
Chairman of the Emenike Campaign Organisation, Alfred John Oforbike confirmed to Shipping Position Daily exclusively last week that the Board of Trustees (BOT) constituted the ASECO in contravention of ANLCA constitution.
Apart from this, reliable sources in ANLCA who pleaded anonymity alleged that the nomination of another major contender for the ANLCA presidency; Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike was a product of the BOT Chairman, Henry Njokwu.
The source told our correspondent that the race for the ANLCA President is now officially between Emenike Nwokeoji and Tony Iju Nwabunike.
The latter is also rumored to enjoy a large support of the association BOT, himself being a member of the board.
There are also rumors circulating within the association that the ASECO is being charged by the Board to conduct the coming elections by Annual General Meeting and not by collegiate.
Already, sources told Shipping Position Daily that the ASECO has started conducting clandestine registration of more members into the association in readiness for the election.
However, speaking with our correspondent last week, Offorbike who is also the Western Zone Coordinator of ANLCA said that the association would kick against any illegal activity of ASECO.
Asked if he has confidence in the present ASECO, he said, "I cannot say I do not have confidence in ASECO, but the system under which they were nominated was very faulty, it was done in a commando style, it did not follow due process as stated by the constitution of ANLCA"
"The constitution says that the board can nominate, and after they nominate, they will bring it to NECOM which comprises of the chapter and national executives, they would now call a NEC meeting which is the highest organ of the association, this is where the membership of the board would be ratified"
‘’It is from there that we would elect the chairman from among the people that were ratified.
But in this situation, this was never done, they only brought names from everywhere, they announced it and that was all, nobody was allowed to talk, it didn't follow procedure", he said
When asked why the association executives failed to raise alarm as at that time, he said that appointed Chairman of the ASECO appealed to members and promised to do the right thing.
"We had questions to ask at the time, but the ASECO chairman came to us and pleaded for peace to reign, we decided to go on as one family, we are watching them, there are procedures to ANLCA elections, we have the constitution of ANLCA and the guidelines for elections, if they contravene it we would shout"
In his reaction to rumors of underground registration by the ASECO, Offorbike said, ”at chapter level, you must be a member for one year for you to be eligible, for you to vote, you must be a member of the chapter for six months with valid license"
"Some people are being registered today and you want them to vote tomorrow, we would shout because you have contravened the electoral guideline"
"Biometrics can be done for the purpose of Biometrics only, but not for this particular election, it is for future one", he argued.
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