Inconclusive Apapa ANLCA Election: Oforbike Fingers ASECO, Board of Trustees for Foul Play

—Says Chukwumalu would Defeat Olawore 1-million Times Over

“This time around, we would ensure that all the voters, even the cripples would crawl to that place for any re-run, they are going to see the mother of all defeats”

By DAPO OLAWUNI

Following the cancellation of the Apapa chapter election on Thursday by the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO) and the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), a prominent leader of the association in the West and former Zonal Coordinator West, Chief Alfred John Oforbike have faulted the BOT and ASECO for declaring the election inconclusive.

Oforbike in a chat with DAILY TREND on Friday said the Apapa election was fraught by irregularities, considering the fact that votes casted have already been sorted and handed over to Agents of the candidates before its cancellation.

Recall that Oforbike was Chairman of RESTORATION Campaign Team which brought the incumbent National Executive Committee (NECOM) led by Emenike Nwokeoji into power, and was also largely responsible for the landslide victory of the Board of Trustees election in the Western Zone in September 2024.

Investigations by our correspondent however indicates a crack in the Restoration camp as prominent team members appear to have anointed Femi Olawore for the exalted seat of Apapa chalter Chairmanship, while Oforbike has teamed up with his former arch rivals; Kayode Farinto and Babatunde Mukaila to support Emeka Chukwumalu.

On the election that took place at the Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos on Thursday, our correspondent had reported that the Apapa chapter election was declared inconclusive when ASECO attempted to add extra 25 votes , a development which generated an uproar.

Speaking on this, Oforbike said “Concerning what happened at the election at Federal Palace Hotel, 108 voters were accredited, and they said there was extra 17 votes that was added.

“Emeka had 78 votes after sorting, his Vice had 76 votes, the secretary had 77 votes, the Treasurer had 69 votes, financial secretary had 77 votes.
The femi Olawore who is the candidate of Olumide had only 25 votes, and every other ones following him had 25 votes, and yet they said the election is inconclusive, how can it be inconclusive?

“According to the electoral law, what happend was not an overvoting, if you have 500 accredited voters and only 200 voted, it is not overvoting, it is still normal.
What made the vote excess is 17 votes, if you remove it from the leading candidate’s votes and add it to the man with 25 votes, he is still not going to win.

“If this election is conducted 1million times, our votes would continue to increase, they have only delayed Emeka Chukwumalu’s victory.
We didn’t manufacture people from heaven, it is the directors of licenses that came to vote.

“We are looking at the electoral body and the BOT, I am not part of the electoral body, I am not part of the BOT that supervised the election, but the matter is glaring, it is a delayed victory and definitely we are going to be the winner.

“Ordinarily, there is not supposed to be a re-run of the election, and we are not afraid of re-run, if they want, we can re-run it a hundred times, but it is just a waste of energy.

“Maybe they have so much money to spend again to arrange the venue and bring people, we are not worried because we are financially buoyant, we have the money for logistics for our members to come, more than before, we are never worried

“Emeka has been targeted more than ten times to bring him down, all the shenanigans that took place to make sure the man is disqualified through any means, they all failed.
Whom God will help, he would help, Emeka is the eye of God, an anybody that touches him would see the wrought of God in this election.

“A strong contender against him had only 25 votes, while Emeka had 78 votes, and yet all his voters were not able to appear that day, this time around, we would make sure that all the voters, even the cripples would crawl to that place for any re-run, they are going to see the mother of all defeats because they do not have the strength to compete with our political sagacity”

Speaking on why he has decided to join camp with the former Acting President and former National Secretary of ANLCA, Oforbike said there is no permanent enemy in politics, but only permanent interests.

Tracing the genesis of his falling out with the team, Oforbike said “They said Mukaila can never contest election in the BOT and I asked why, because the man has helped us in the past and it is pay back time, but they said no.

“I was the one that made them win the BOT election, I put the six people from West into that board, it is the same license that was used to contest the board election that is now being used for the Western Zone Chapter election presently.

“Yet today, they say I am no longer a factor in ANLCA politics in the West. They brought multiple petitions against Emeka Chukwumalu to bring him down by all means, they were trying to get him through me, but he escaped all the hurdles.

“All the game of 2027 is already on the board, they said Farinto and Mukaila are nobody today, they want to retire them, but look at it today, they are bouncing back. The election conducted in the East, it was Farinto’s people that won the election.

“In politics, there is no permanent friend or permanent enemy, we only have permanent interest, and my interest is on ANLCA, my interest is on anybody who can move ANLCA forward, I can be anywhere through any political arrangement in order to give ANLCA the best.

“Our camp in the West have now been divided because of personal interests.
Those who believed they have reached eldorado, we are counting days for them as 2027 is already by the corner.

“Politics is about alignment and re-allignment of true likeminds, you cannot coerce me to follow you, you can only persuade me with facts and figures and ideas for me to follow you.

“In the West, we fought together, but because of personal interests, we lost Apapa, KLT, PTML and Tin Can. Consolidation is supposed to be the driving force in politics, you cannot wake up and decide to destroy the team makers.

“They want to destroy me and my legacy but I have teamed up with the other people to move on. They said Farinto and Mukaila are nobody, but today they are everywhere, you can all feel it.

“We would leave the BOT and the ASECO to their conscience, what I am telling everybody now is to be calm because we are law abiding, if they do this election 1million times, we are going to secure more votes because people have seen that the other man does not have capacity and nobody wants to vote a loser.

“History will judge ASECO and the BOT for taking a decision which was not supposed to be. People should know that power belongs to God and he choses whom he wants to give” he concluded