At last, NCAN gets new executive

By Stanley Onyekwere

The National Association Cashew of Nigeria (NCAN) yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital city elected new executives for the first time in five years.
Our correspondent reports that Mr Ojo Joseph Ajanaku, Edo State emerged the NCAN National President during an elective Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association, replacing the embattled outgoing NCAN President, Mr Tola Fasheru.
Ojo and other members of the executive were elected during an election organised by the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association, under the strict supervision of Dr. Victor Iyama-led Federation of Agricultural Commodities Associations of Nigeria (FACAN).
He defeated his only co-contestant, Chukwuemeka Mark, who scored only four out of total 154 delegates drawn from the 36 states and FCT
that participated in the exercise, held inside conference hall of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment (FMTI), in Area 1, Abuja.
Also, positions of the vice presidents for the six geopolitical zones were unopposed, and the candidates were unanimously endorsed by the delegates of the respective regions.
Chairman Election Committee and first National Chairman of the Association, Sunny Stevenson Uzoechi , after returning and supervising the inauguration of the elected officials of the Association, recalled that the outgoing NCAN executive got into office 2011, and expected to leave in 2014.
He stressed that the constitution guiding the association specified that its executive will stay in office for only three years.
In his inaugural address, Ojo, who thanked the NCAN members for electing him as their National President, promised to explore how they can further bring reforms that would stabilise and strengthen the industry.
He added that his leadership would formulate policies and standard blueprint to help regulate, promote and build the cashew industry as a competitive commodity.
Earlier, the AGM, which dissolved the Administration of Fasheru that started since 2011, resolved to conduct immediate audit of its account and be frozen till further notice, with the support of EFCC.
It also suspended all levies being collected by the Association and nullification of the constitution as amended by the outgoing executive.
However, a mild drama had played out when a notice of Court injunction filed by the deposed NCAN President was brought to the attention of Association on day of the election, prompting some stakeholders to ask for the shifting of the election till a later date, but the Congress instead on going on with the process, as the purported notice was not properly served.