Nigeria Exits Maritime Organization Over Electoral Fraud 

Nigeria has  exited  Maritime Organization for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) following disregard for the  rules of procedure  regarding  the   suitability  of  candidates nominated  for the  position of the Secretary General  of the organization.

The delegation  of Nigeria at the 8th Bureau of Ministers and 15th General Assembly  of MOWCA held on Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo,announced the stern action in a statement signed by Eric Ojiekwe, Director of  Press, Federal Ministry of Transportation.

reads in parts: “It is sad, and most depressing  given  Nigeria’s  ardent and consistent support  for MOWCA and its  activities, that Nigeria as a nation must take a  stand against the promotion of illegality,  disrespect for the rule of law and contravention  of the Rules regarding election of the Secretary General of MOWCA.

This position followed the presentation for election for the position of Secretary General  of over aged candidates by Guinea and the Republic of Benin, leading Nigeria to further observe: “Nigeria draws the attention of the General Assembly to the comment of

MOWCA as presented by MOWCA secretariat in the annotated Agenda

circulated this week to the Committee of Experts meeting, which confirmed thatNigeriais theonly country thatmet the age eligibilitycriteria requirement that candidates must not exceed 55 years.

The candidate nominated by Nigeria

was  55 years as  at when  nominations closed in 2020 while  the candidates of Guinea was  60 years old and  that of Benin was 62  years old.”

By this, the Nigerian candidate and Director, Maritime Services, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Paul Adaliku was the only eligible candidate and should have been declared unopposed.

 The statement said   the apparent  willingness of some  member  states  to  consider  for elections candidates  who  knowingly contravened  the  age criteria having  exceeded  the maximum age  limit by more than 5 years in  the case of Guinea and 7 years by

Benin, does  not portend well for the reputation  and  operation of MOWCA as a rule-based organization.

The statement said  that no member States has supported MOWCA as much as Nigeria, as the records show, she has contributed over $5million in the past 10 year with the organization not employing a single Nigerian.

He added that:”It  should be noted that not  a single citizen of Nigeria has ever  been employed in MOWCA, and  that  this  is  the  first  time  that  Nigeria  has  contested  for  the position  of  the  Secretary  General  of  the  organization  even  though  it  is  an uncontested  fact  that  it  is  essentially the  contributions  of  Nigeria  that has

sustained  the organization over the  years”.