Randle Becomes New President of The Secretariat Membership Club
Otunba Ayodeji Idowu Randle has taken over the mantle of leadership of The Secretariat Membership Club.
- Otunba Randle was elected as the new president alongside other executive members who would paddle the affair of the club during its 33 Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Ade Ayeni
Immediate past President
The Club founded in 1991 was an offshoot of the Airline Pilots and Flight Engineers Association of Nigeria (APFEAN).
Randle, in his acceptance speech as the president of the club, pledged never to disappoint all the club members by doing his best alongside other executive members to uplift the club and reposition it for greatness.
“I feel highly honoured and humbled by my election today as the new president of our great club, The Secretariat Membership Club. I feel honoured because you have chosen me out of many qualified great and honourable members of this club to become your president.
“You have spoken, and very loudly too. Your message is very clear. By electing me as your president, you have asked me to provide leadership for the club, together with other elected members of the new executive body.
“Although, I bear the title president as stipulated by our constitution, as our electors to this leadership position we have a master servant relationship with you, we are elected to serve and I promise we shall serve you to the best of our abilities.
“It is, indeed, a great honour and all I can say is that I will never disappoint you all as I, together with other executive members, will do all within our capabilities, through divine guidance, to justify the confidence you have reposed in us.
“The manifesto night came up some days ago, where I highlighted my agenda as the new president. I believe it was on the basis of what I presented to you that you voted for me today.
“As a man that keeps his words, I assure you that I will lead the new executive to fulfil every word of our promises”, he said.
The outgoing president, Captain Gabriel Ade Ayeni, in his valedictory, commended all the club members for their support during his reign as president, urged them to double up their support for the new president.
“You are all welcome to our 33rd AGM, which marks the end of this current administration as we expect a new executive council to be elected and sworn in today. I give all honour, glory, and adoration to the Almighty father who made it possible for us all to witness this great day. may his name forever be praised, amen.
“At the inception of this administration we were faced with very daunting challenges especially in the area of acquisition and purchase of our club’s house which stood at a whopping amount of over 100 million but to God be glory not only did this administration liquidated the debt but we were able to add some other infrastructure and amenities including this our pavilion and conveniences which was named as “Chief Engineer Sylvanus Ghasarah pavilion” this couldn’t have been made possible without the doggedness of our untiring, generous and supportive patron Chief Sylvanus Ghasarah (OFR), same also for the tremendous support and donations we got from our indefatigable members who paid quite a significant amount of money of N2.5m naira and above”, he said.
Speaking further, Ayeni said:” Worthy of note is the remarkable improvement in our membership drive we expect it to keep improving by committing ourselves into bringing in young and dynamic individuals into our midst this cannot be over emphasized as the average age in our club today stands between 67 to 70 years that’s not looking too good for our succession plans.
Another area of concern to me is Service apathy which has been bedeviling our club for over 12 to 15years, this is a very worrisome situation we just have to do something about it as most of us are reluctant to serve, only for some of us to sit back and criticize those that are giving their time and resources for us all to enjoy. We must have a change of attitude”, he added.
