In the build up to the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA chapter election scheduled to hold next month, the Oodua Maritime Forum, a pressure group within ANLCA has declared that only Yoruba aspirants would be voted into Chairmanship positions in all chapters in the Western Zone.
This position was also upheld by the Oba of Ijora Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka Aremu Aromire (Oyegbemi ll) during the campaign flag-off of the KLT Chairmanship aspirant in the forthcoming ANLCA chapter election, Ahmed Olajide Bello on Wednesday.
Paving the way for the pronouncement, a Patron of ANLCA, Prince Taiye Oyeniyi said the Yorubas are going to make a statement with the forthcoming chapter elections of ANLCA in the Western Zone.
According to him, “We are going to make a statement with the coming elections of ANLCA into the Western Zone. As the Patron of ANLCA in the federation, I have a home, it is what my ancestral home wanted that I would abide by. All the contestants in the Western Zone are my children, but I have a mission, ANLCA is a big organisation, we have the North, East and West.
“When the Oodua that spreads to almost eight states of the federation has made a statement, that statement would stand. We are not quarrelling with anybody. As far as we have made the decision in our caucus meeting, so shall it be.”
He however, assured that the coming elections will be seamless and peaceful.
Making the pronouncement, the President of Oodua Maritime Forum, Chief Oye Ariyo said the stance of the Yorubas on the forthcoming ANLCA Chapter Election is not out of quarrel or hatred for the Igbos in the association, but that same practice that is being done in the Eastern chapters needs to be reciprocated in the West.
“We had a meeting at Apapa last year. What we agreed, all of us here, in that Apapa meeting was that, all the chapters in the Western Zone, it is Yoruba man to chair. We are not relenting on that.
“We don’t have any quarrel with anyone. They have done it in the East, we don’t have a single Yoruba man or Hausa holding positions in the East, we want to practice the same here, and that is why we have insisted that we don’t want any other tribe in all our chapters in the Western Zone, and that is how it would be.
“We are not saying they won’t hold any positions here, but we shall give them positions that befits them. All our Yoruba sons currently standing for elections are all capable and they are youths, it is the youths that can do it right now and they would all emerge winner”, Ariyo said.
Urging all Oodua members to ensure that they cast their vote for Ahmed Olajide Bello as Chairman of KLT Chapter, the Oodua Maritime Forum boss continued, ”I have been on this job for forty years, in the East, I don’t see any yoruba man becoming Chairman, even the smallest position as Assistant Secretary is not given to them. On Election day, make sure that you vote for only Yoruba candidates and their friends.”
Reinforcing the position held by the leadership of Oodua Maritime Forum, the Ojora of Ojora and Apapa Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka Aremu Aromire (Oyegbemi ll) who was represented by one of this whitecap chiefs, Chief Akogun of Ijora and Apapa Kingdom stated categorically that Igbos and other tribes must not be voted in as Chairman in any chapter in the West.
He emphatically endorsed the ANLCA KLT Chapter Chairmanship Aspirant, Alhaji Ahmed Olajide Bello, urging all association members to give him their full support and backing.
“We are not a member of your group, but we are original members of your group because you are on our land. What you are doing today had happened during the last governorship election in Lagos, we the White cap chiefs and the Obas know the role we played in order to win what belongs to us.
“What you cannot accept or condone in your own state, it is impossible for you to come to Lagos and try it.
“I want to appeal to you all, the message Kabiyesi asked me to tell you, is that you should vote in our son, Ahmed Olajide Bello, he is the King’s son, and one of the Chiefs at the Palace. He is a good son, he would deliver on his mandate and perform excellently well for us all, we should all follow him.
“I want to tell my other brothers (Easterners), we are not fighting anybody, we are friends. Without you from the East, there is no Lagos, but don’t think because of this, you would step on my toes as son of the soil, I would not take it.
“For most of you guys from the East, if you go to Alaba or Ojo Local Government, if we are holding any elections and we don’t make somebody from East as Deputy Chairman, we cannot succeed. We are doing so because we cannot send you away.
“However, on this one election that we are talking about, you must follow what the Yorubas are saying and not misbehave.
“The Igbo people and people from the East are my best friends, my second wife is Chinyere, she lives in Festac, but I would not because of the love I have for you betray my brother”, the Ojora concluded.
Photo: Akogun of Ojora/Apapa land (left) endorsing Alhaji Olajide Ahmed Bello as the Oodua Maritime Forum’s preferred candidate for ANLCA KLT chapter Chairman in the forthcoming ANLCA chapter election.
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