Even as the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association of Nigeria Licensed
Customs Agents (ANLCA) on Monday forced its Board of Trustees (BOT) to shift grounds on its decision to extend the tenure of the present executives by three months for elections to take place, a presidential aspirant in the election which is now expected to hold in two weeks time; Dr. Kayode Farinto has vehemently kicked against the decision.
Even as the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association of Nigeria Licensed
Customs Agents (ANLCA) on Monday forced its Board of Trustees (BOT) to shift grounds on its decision to extend the tenure of the present executives by three months for elections to take place, a presidential aspirant in the election which is now expected to hold in two weeks time; Dr. Kayode Farinto has vehemently kicked against the decision.
Farinto in an exclusive chat with Shipping Position Daily in his office yesterday condemned the decision saying that, there is no way a credible election can be held under two weeks.
Farinto who has also threatened to head to the court of law for appropriate redress alleged that the ANLCA President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu is attempting to force himself on members of the association.
He observed that presently, nobody has bought forms for presidential elections and that the time frame is too short for aspirants to begin a tour of all chapters to canvass for votes.
"This means that Shittu wants to have his second term through the back door, he has succeeded in bamboozling the BoT and the electoral executives into rubber-stamping his ambition, but for people like us, I have the legitimate right under the 1999 constitution, if my rights are trampled upon, I will go to court, I will go to court on this issue" he reiterated.
Farinto pointed out that even though the constitution of ANLCA states that the NEC is the highest decision-making body, the decision taken at the Monday meeting is injurious to the rights of members of ANLCA.
Going further, he stated that: "I am an aspirant; I cannot be able to move round the federation now to campaign under two weeks"
"Secondly there is a lacuna in the constitution of ANLCA, a version of the constitution which I have, indicates that we must have the presidential election by AGM, but this one they are interpreting says it’s collegiate, so we need a constitutional lawyer to interpret it for us, so we may end up in court".
"But I am telling you categorically that it will never work, there is no way, I have never seen it in the history of ANLCA where you conduct a presidential election under two weeks, not even a chapter election" he said.
Farinto insisted that the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO) of the association should be sacked because it has lost its integrity, especially with the alleged indictment on it by the committee set up to investigate the anomalies in the past western zone elections.
He also took a swipe at the ANLCA lawyer, Barrister Chekube Osonwa, saying that a good lawyer for the association should not be a part of the process or a member of ANLCA.
"A lawyer for ANLCA must be a neutral person sourced from outside, but this man has been too involved in the politicking", he added.
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