Amidst tight security provided by the Police and raging controversies, the much-expected elections of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) into its Tin Can Island Port Chapter (TIPC) and the Ikorodu Chapters held.
Amidst tight security provided by the Police and raging controversies, the much-expected elections of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) into its Tin Can Island Port Chapter (TIPC) and the Ikorodu Chapters held.
One of the two contestants for Tin Can port chapter; Mr Kayode Oyinlola emerged as chairman of the most coveted and most controversial chapter of the association, scoring a total of 47 votes, while his opponent Mr Kayode Farinto was disqualified from contesting by the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO) for reasons that could not be ascertained as at press time.
Other winners at the Tin Can elections are; Mrs Ada Akpunonu as Vice Chairman, Mr Kanikwu Chuks as Secretary, Michael Olanrewaju as Financial Secretary, Mohammed Majid as treasurer and Emmanuel Onyeme as Public Relations Officer.
At the Ikorodu Chapter, Mr. Tomi Aloba emerged Chairman while Mr. Jimoh Lawal won as the treasurer of the chapter.
But for the heavy presence of security agencies at the venue, the election could have resulted into violence as voters from the camp of Mr Kayode Farinto refused to allow the election to proceed.
Some of them who spoke to Shipping Position Daily at the venue of the election alleged that the ASECO led by Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila had deliberately disenfranchised some eligible voters by not disseminating the date and venue of the elections to them.
Speaking before the election process, Mrs Dora Udegbe of A-Z Maritime Limited alleged that the association sent a text message saying that the election will hold on Wednesday 3rd of July, but that no notice was sent to inform her of the change of date.
"There is a court injunction this morning that stopped this election from holding and a court injunction also stopped our chairman from entering this premises this morning, let that injunction also hold the ASECO, there will be no election here", she had threatened.
Also speaking with our correspondent, Mr. Francis Akadiri alleged that Mr. Farinto was deliberately not cleared to contest in the election.
However, while speaking to Shipping Position Daily after the election process, the ASECO chairman, Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila explained that the final list for the election was uploaded last week Wednesday and that the voters had enough notice.
"We have 76 valid votes and this is more than 70 percent, anybody can decide to withdraw his voting rights, so the fact that somebody is not here is not a matter to be discussed here", he pointed out.
"The same medium that was used to send the announcement for Wednesday was used to send today's own, there shouldn't be any reason for you to see one and not see the other one, we didn’t use different medium", he explained.
He explained that Mr Farinto Kayode had gone to court and a court summons was served on the ASECO yesterday.
Curiously, a joint claimant in the summons; Mr. Ojo Akintoye participated in the election and contedted for the post of vice chairman of Tin Can port, he lost but he also embraced his opponent as a mark of solidarity when he was announced to have lost the election.
"This is an association with a legal department, our Barrister having studied the summons felt it is not enough to stop the election process" he told our correspondent after the election.
Meanwhile, Mr Farinto told our correspondent after the elections said he was studying the development and would make his next line of action known in due course.
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