ANLCA ELECTIONS: ASECO MUST NOT KEEP US IN THE DARK
— SONIEL ONOCHIE
/The Prestige Magazine/
As members of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents- ANLCA are getting set for its National Executive Committee(NECOM) Elections which comes up in less than three weeks time, the Association’s Electoral Commission (ASECO)has been advised to strictly follow the electoral guideline.
A Chieftain of ANLCA, and MD/ CEO of Real Passion Nigeria Limited, Soniel Onochie, during a conversation with the Prestige Blended Magazine Online, expressed concern that barely 15 days to the election, the Association Electoral Commission was yet to display voters register, licences and names of contestants as well as offices they are vying for. According to Onochie, “ASECO ought to have displayed a comprehensive voters’ register by now, unless the Commission is not yet sure of the fixed date.”
“I don’t want to talk about venue now but even up until now ASECO has not told us the venue, we are yet to know whether the election is going to hold in Kano, Enugu, Lagos or Abuja, we ought to have known by now.”
“Why l am emphasising on the display of Voter’s register and list of Contestants and licences is because it will help us to forestall election manipulations. For instance, any person who has access to my license can give it out to any of the Contestants, and if the list is not displayed for us to see; how do l discover that a fraud has been committed ?”
“If by now we are still kept in the dark by ASECO, 15 days to the election, one should be asking why the waste of time?”
According to Onochie, “If ANLCA wants to move forward , ASECO needs to put its house in order, it must strictly follow the electoral guideline and publish the names of eligible voters, agencies and contestants because this is exactly the best time to check manipulation and election frauds. There must be thorough verification of contestants and licences,” Onochie said.