Ndigbo, MLS, 2023 national AMLSN election harmonization congress: setting the records straight
A rapporteur by Nduka Nnadi
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An anonymous African adage said that “whenever brothers emerge from a closed-door family meeting with smiles on their faces, then they did not tell themselves truth in that meeting.”
The untoward event of 22nd April 2023 (two days ago) at the GOPD consultation hall of Federal Medical Center, Umuahia, where the South East Caucus of Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) — Ndigbo MLS, met for the harmonization of their interests in the forthcoming AMLSN national elections need to be revisited to set the record straight.
Recall that after series of back-and-forth which characterized a six-man harmonization committee led by Dr. Uche Uchegbu, the executive officers of Ndigbo MLS took a unilateral decision to convene a Congress to deliberate on the report submitted and choose consensus candidates for the national elections.
This Congress was held two days back at the said venue and there is need to address the issues raised and clearly demarcate the truth from falsehood, reality from illusion, and facts from fancies.
Here is a rapporteur of what transpired at the meeting.
The first augury scene was crass negligence from the Executives of Ndigbo MLS and organizers of the Congress. They showed manifest disregard for the Forum by unjustifiably delaying the commencement of the meeting for about four exhaustive hours in which the Forum members were kept in indefinite suspense.
This, they did, without offering a single explanation to the members. It would later be deciphered that it was a maneuver tactics hatched to achieve vested motives.
And when the meeting scheduled to hold at 10:00am, eventually began at about 1:20pm local time, the Secretary of the supposed Harmonization Screening Committee — Dr. Laurena Okolo who comparatively came on time, went awol.
It took the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Uche Uchegbu (who, also yawningly came late) to present the report of the screening exercise, albeit a disheartening caveat of the report being replete with errors, as he attested to. He admitted that he scored someone who did not even appear before the Committe, or completed any form.
This admittance of grave mistake on the part of the Chairman threw the house into a rowdy session.
And that after making such a charade presentation, he left the Congress unannounced, having seen that his purported report was generating a lot of controversies. Not even the Chairman of the Forum — Prof. Humphrey Nwobodo could control the boisterously incensed members.
There arose from the floor, a chorus of unanimous rejection of the reports, because it was laced in tissues of partisanship.
At such disordered situation, everyone had expected the elders of the Forum to rise to occasion and quell the situation. But sadly, they failed the people, as Elder Bona Nlemadim stoked the fire more when he inadvertently exposed his brazen bias in the matter.
He would further dismiss all the Young Medical Laboratory Scientists who came with great enthusiasm to shape their own future and the future of the Association as “Interns.” Elder Bona also told the Congress in his own words that “these young people cannot be allowed to air their views in this strategic decision-making Congress.”
Curiously, the Congress organizers headed by Prof. Nwobodo and Elder Bona had collected registration fee of 2000 (two thousand naira) each from this crop of cerebral Young Scientists, amounting to over a hundred thousand naira, before shutting their voices.
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He would later put his threats into practice, as he ceased the reports, hijacked the proceedings and refused the Congress the platform to decide democratically, who the presidential candidate of Ndigbo in the forthcoming national elections will be, considering that all the three frontliners were certified as qualified.
The occult evil gimmicks and treacherous antics being machinated by these self-serving leaders to impose a candidate of their choice on Ndigbo MLS was clear to all. Members felt threatened by the barefaced oligarchy playing out, as their leaders continued to constrict the democratic space.
Not a few members were saddened by antecedents of these leaders. They cannot forget in a hurry the treasonable scandal committed against Ndigbo MLS by some of these elders which made Ndigbo lose their chance of producing the National president three years back in a national election held in Ebonyi State. They clandestinely concocted a court injunction, to frustrate the progress of the election, when they saw that their preferred candidate was losing.
The status quo should be jettisoned.
Elder Bona’s usurpation of executive powers with impunity is appalling, and Prof. Nwobodo’s perfunctory attitude to duty is destroying the Forum in bits. The executive officers should also do the needful to save this fraternal Concourse from impending implosion.
They should rescind their dictatorial tendencies, change their ways, engender a level-playing ground, and allow the will of the people prevail in a free and fair democratic process on deciding who will be their consensus candidate in the November presidential election.
The meeting ended in a deadlock, as it was adjourned sine die at about 6:10pm.
In conclusion, the indisputable take-home from the Congress is that all members of this regional caucus of MLS need to be more aware of the steps of their elders. They should allow common sense to guide our actions to avert a repeat of their uncelebrated outing in Abakaliki in November 2020.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Read more.
MLS Nduka Nnadi; ndukannadi80@gmail.com
