MWUN Goes to Polls for Branch Executives

About one month after  they elected national executives, members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN)o will this week file out again ; this time to elect executives of the union’s four branches; namely : NPA branch, Dockworkers branch, Seamen and Water Transport branch as well as Shipping and Courier branch.
There is however a confirmation that the elections will hold simultaneously in the two port cities of Lagos and Calabar. While Lagos will host delegates for the Seamen and Water transport as well as Shipping and Courier branches, elections into the branch executives of both NPA and Dockworkers branches will hold in Calabar. National officers were elected into the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria on March 27 in Benin, Edo state where comrade Tony Emmanuel contested against Comrade Rasaq Bakare to emerge as the new president general.
However there are strong indications that consensus candidates may emerge I some of the branches where the former leadership and incumbent leaders have been able to align all the forces.
Specifically, sources told Shipping Position Weekly that the coast may have been cleared for a former national executive member of the union to emerge unopposed as the next president of the dockworkers branch. Similarly, there are indications that the new president of NPA branch may be top official of the branch who is also an executive of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Lagos.
Our correspondent confirmed that the endorsement of the NPA man is the outcome of months of horse trading involving several stakeholders, even from outside the union.
A member of the negotiating team revealed that the NLC man who may eventually emerge as NPA branch president was preferred because of his experience in union-related issues and loyalty to the immediate past national executive council.
As at press time, there are no hints as to who is likely to emerge as the president of the two other branches, but the union’s president general, comrade Nted Emmanuel confirmed to our correspondent that all arrangements have been concluded for the emergence of new executives for the union’s branches this week.