Tunde Arosanyin, chairman, National Stakeholders, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), has disclosed that AFAN has set up a seven-man transition committee that would conduct elections to elect the executives for the Kogi State chapter.
Arosanyin disclosed this at the stakeholders meeting of the association on Saturday in Lokoja, noting that the stakeholders in Kogi had held four different meetings in the past with the aim of reorganising the state’s AFAN to achieve its desired objectives.
“During the previous meeting, they all agreed to set up the transition committee to conduct the state elections,” he said.
The transition committee members, which were drawn from the three senatorial districts of the state, would be inaugurated in the next meeting, with a mandate to conduct election within the next three months.
“Our constitution does not allow vacuum. Since the tenure of the last executive expired in June, there is a need to set up a transition committee who will pilot the affairs of the Kogi chapter till the next election is conducted.
“However, none of the committee members are allowed to participate in the election. They have a three-month mandate, which can only be extended by another three months for them to conduct the election”.
Speakers from the three senatorial districts of Kogi State also aligned with the decision of the national body to set up the transition committee.
Adams Adejo, Eleshon Bawonda and Matthew Shuaibu, who spoke for the East, West and Central senatorial districts respectively, all affirmed that the nominations for the transition committee members followed due process.
“We have agreed on the seven members of the electoral committee comprising a chairman and six from the three senatorial zones.
“We believe in the decision of the national body to give room for a diligent conduct of elections,” Adams said.
On his part, Bawonda who noted that the Kogi chapter of AFAN was bedeviled by crises in the past, said that the decision to conduct election tallies with the interest of the members.
He urged those aggrieved in the past to allow peace to reign and close ranks with other members to move the association forward.
Shuaibu stressed that the state chapter was lagging, noting that the decision of the national body to reorganise them was apt and timely.
