Chairman, Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), Chief Isaac Jolapamo has said that he did not at any time endorse or support any of the candidates who vied for elective positions in the association’s election conducted on Friday last week.
Speaking in his office on Monday, Jolapamo said: “I have heard all sorts of speculations and unfounded rumours making the rounds. As a statesman and founding leader of the association, I decided to create a level playing field for all the contestants. I did not support or endorse any of them. And that is why we invited a neutral body to conduct the election.
“I never at any time discussed any candidate with anybody either within or outside NISA. We had an electoral committee made up of respected persons and we gave them free hands to conduct the election. We didn’t tell them how to do their jobs. They designed their own guidelines and executed the brief handed to them by the association.”
Jolapamo said that it would be mischievous to attribute the success of any of the candidates in the election to him or the leadership of NISA.
He enjoined those who won the election to be magnanimous in victory while those who were not fortunate enough to get NISA members’ mandate this time around should “support the elected officials so that we can all join hands to take our association to the next level”.
“What should be paramount to all of us at this stage is how to take indigenous ship owners out of the woods so that they can assume their rightful place in the maritime industry.
“There is so much work to do. We must put the election behind us and not allow it polarize our association. The NISA of our dream is an all-inclusive body of Nigerian shipowners and all hands must be on deck from now,” he said.
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