A tribal pressure group in the Nigerian maritime sector; Oodua Maritime Forum has said that it is ready to embrace democratisation, even as it has slated its first-ever elections for November 2016.
To this end, the body on 6th of October has set up an electoral body to usher in new set of executives to govern the forum for the next four years.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily last week, Chairman of the Oodua Maritime Electoral Committee (OMECO); Alhaji Akanni Balogun said the national body inaugurated the committee on the 6th of October.
He assured that sensitization of members towards the election would begin at the various chapters this week and registration would start immediately. After this, he said the date for the national election would be announced, followed by the chapters.
He urged all Oodua members in the business of clearing to get registered at their various chapters for a token.
"This is the first time that the Oodua national body is conducting an arranged election, before now, executives were usually hand-picked and selected but no real election"
"We are part of the stakeholders in the port, and we don't want to be relegated in the scheme of things. We are a pressure body representing the interest of Oodua citizens in the maritime industry, hence we need to reorganise ourselves"
"The Oodua maritime has been existing for long, but now we want a sort of re-orientation and better arrangement" he said
He said the forum intends to hold the elections at the national level where members would elect national president, vice president and other executives. At the chapter level, Chairmen of chapters in western zones would be elected.
Alhaji Balogun could not give the names of the contestants because according to him, people were still struggling to purchase forms and they would be announced soon.
He however assured that the National elections would hold first week of November while the chapters would hold before the middle of December 2016.
He said the tenure of the national president would be four years, while that of chapters would be for three years.
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