By Innocent Orok
As contestants for the up coming Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Board of Trustees (BOT) election gears up for the all important event , frontline contenders are speaking up on the latest developments and what they expect from the ASECO and ANLCA members .
One of such canddate is Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila , the immediate past National Secretary/ Administrator of the association. He said he expect a free, fair and credible election, as he also confirm his confidence in the Association Electorial Commission (ASECO) members to deliver free and fair election.
Mukaila who spoke with some selected journalists the second time in two weeks stated that the only thing motivating him to vie for the BOT position was to serve and contribute his quota to the growth and development of ANLCA.
Mukaila cited Section 13 of the ANLCA constitution which has to do with the functions of Board members and reiterated that there is no position as Chairman or Secretary of BOT in the ANLCA Constitution.
Quoting the constitution he said “a person shall be elected a Trustee of the association at the AGM of the association duly convened for that purpose provided that the number of Trustees shall always be nine.”
He maintained that people going into the Board have all equal status even as he insisted that the election of Board Chairman and Secretary is the internal arrangement of the elected members of the Board for ease of administration as it was not a creation of the association’s constitution.
“What makes you a Board member is what equally makes another person a Board member. It is when you people gather that you now say let this one become our secretary and that doesn’t make him a superior member because it is your attitude that makes you a member of that organization. This constitution does not recognize any position in the Board.
“And I am not running to be anything, I just want to contribute my quota to the growth and development of ANLCA”, he said.
Asked whether he is disturbed by the active roles being played by the close aides of ANLCA National President in driving the campaigns of the Group of Nine Like Minds.
He responded, “Am not disturbed at all. I would want to see a situation when I deem it necessary to call for a meeting and invite all those Aides to my own meeting, I want to see them say no. That is when I will take a position that, yes, something is in the offing. And as I said, it’s not about crowd, it is about who has a voting right, who are the Directors?
“So, I don’t see the President as someone who has taken sides. I believe he wants a very credible and competent election. Let’s give it to him, his Aides, some of them, are Directors of their companies, if they decide to espouse some groups, or some aspirants, they are exercising their rights.
“The President has one voting right, any of his Aides that you see anywhere has one voting right, but I want to believe they are exercising their rights. Until I said , Mr President’s Aids I am having a meeting somewhere, I am inviting you, even if they refuse to come, it’s still their right. So, I am not perturbed at all.”
Otunba Mukaila said he is consulting and campaigning insisting that ANLCA members should vote for track records, competent , innovations and transparency.He tagged his campaign slogan as ” One With God”.
