The Head, Legal Unit of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Barrister Musa I. Kakamba has commended the Electoral Committee of the NICO Multipurpose Cooperative Society (NIMCOS), for the peaceful conduct of the election that ushered in a new executive committee, stating: ”It has been the fairest and most competitive; I commend the organisers.”
The election, which was organised by the Caretaker Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. James Adediran and adopted the Secret Ballot System, took place at the Institute’s Headquarters, No. 23, Kigoma Street, Wuse Zone 7, Abuja on Thursday, 25th February, 2016, with accreditation of members and eligible voters starting at about 11.40am, and voting ending at about 1:02pm.
The result of the election showed Mr. Ibrahim Kantoma (Cashier of Accounts Department) emerging as Chairman with 102 votes against his opponent, Mrs. Jane Anigala (Asst. Director, Admin. & Human Resources) who scored 82 votes; Mrs. Lawretta Enwezor (Sub-Head, Pension Matters) emerged the Vice-Chairperson with 180 votes; Mr. Thomas Omopariola (Head, Maintenance Unit) emerged the Secretary-General of the Cooperative; Sherifat Abdulrazak (Head, Salary Unit) and Salamatu Yahaya (Salary Unit) emerged winners, as Treasurer and Financial Secretary with 181 and 183 votes, respectively.
The post of the Public Relations/Welfare Officer was vied for by two staffers of the Corporate Affairs Unit, Office of the Executive Secretary, with Mrs. Iyadunni Adelabu-Idris (Senior Cultural Officer) beating Mr. Caleb Nor (Media Asst. to the ES) by 133 to 49 votes.
With the results announced, the oath of office was administered to the new NIMCOS Exco by Barr. Musa I. Kakamba who charged them to carry out their duties without prejudice or partiality, just as he enjoined them to treat every member of the Cooperative equally.
NICO News got some reactions on the development: Benedict Maigari, a Youth Corps member serving with the Orientation and Cultural Affairs Department of the Institute, who served as an Observer, affirmed that the election was free and fair; Jane Atoyebi of the Salary Unit also stated, “The election was a nice one, free and fair. The members voted for who they wanted without being biased. I commend the electoral committee. It was transparent, open for all to see.”
On her part, Mrs. Jane Anigala also confirmed that the peaceful and transparent conduct of the election, saying: ”It was a free and fair election. The winner is an upright person. I just pray that, God will give him (Ibrahim Kantoma) the grace to rule because it is not easy to rule. I just pray that he should take decisions that will favour the Cooperative.”
She also used the opportunity to enjoin her fans, especially those who stood by her during the electoral process to support and work with the winner for the overall good of NIMCOS.
In his acceptance speech, the New NIMCOS Chairman, Ibrahim Kantoma, stated that the election was conducted in a peaceful and conducive environment, and assured members of the Multipurpose Society of his executive’s readiness to fulfil all the campaign promises.
Also speaking, the Public Relations/Welfare Officer, Mrs. Iyadunni Adelabu-Idris affirmed that the election was fair, maintaining that, by the grace of God, she will fulfil all her Manifesto Promises of equal treatment, most especially in the area of effective information dissemination through the use of social media network platforms that abound.
It would be recalled that the old executive of the NICO Multipurpose Cooperative Society since its inception on the 18th of January, 2005 was dissolved on the 4th of December, 2015; and a Caretaker Committee was put in place and mandated to conduct election within three (3) months, which they adhered to.
Njideka Dimgba
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO, Abuja