By Shola Fadeyi
Sir(Chief) Ernest Elochukwu, Former National President, ANLCA
The National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents(ANLCA) Honourable Tony Nwabunike and Chief Henry Njoku have been blamed for the more than one year old leadership crisis that has engulfed the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association.
Sir Ernest Elochukwu , the former National President of ANLCA and a member of the BOT laid the blame at the door steps of the two in an interview with Marineandeconomy in his office in Port Harcourt recently adding that if Chief Njoku and Honourable Nwabunike would allow the truth to prevail , the crisis would be laid to rest .
It will be recalled that the BOT has been thrown into a crisis since April 13, 2018 when it was believed to have held an election where Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha purportedly emerged as the Chairman having defeated Chief Njoku by five votes to three but the claim was disputed by the former and his group who have insisted that no real election took place.
Sir Elochukwu who said he was part of the meeting held in Chief Njoku’s room at the Golden Tulip Hotel , in Amuwo Odofin Lagos emphasized that the election actually held and that the ballot must be respected and recognized by those who are denying it for peace and development to return to the association.
He said those who have been claiming that the election was not part of the agenda of that day’s meeting were not saying the truth adding that election was one of the items on matters arising from the minutes and that it is the valid place it could have been for it to be part of the agenda of that day’s meeting.
According to him, Chief Njoku as the then BOT Chairman presided over the meeting but if he was present to discuss every item on the agenda and towards the end of the last item which is the election he decided to be absent, of course ‘’ at that point then there is many wonders in this world and that act would enter into one of them again’’.
He disclosed that the refusal of Chief Njoku to want to recognize the election that removed him as the Chairman is because he wants to continue to hold on to power while those behind him such as the ANLCA President and Chief Peter Obi are doing so because of their inability to want to abide by an agreement that has been reached by the Board to the effect that a new Chairman that would emerge then must be a Yoruba man.
Elochukwu explained that the agreement was reached sequel to the granting of a request from the Odu Maritime Group of the Association through a letter it wrote and which was read at a meeting of the Board where the Group wanted a kind of tribal balancing in the three key positions in the association, namely the National President Position which was set to be occupied by an Igbo man as at that time , the Chairman of the BOT which was occupied by an Igbo and the Chairman of ASECO which is also an Igbo man.
He stated that his response to those who have been asking why ANLCA would allow positions in its BOT to be occupied based on tribal consideration has been that it was for purpose of justice and peace and for the fact that Nigeria also allows such to maintain ethnic balance , the reason why there is Federal Character adding that this has led to a situation where a Northerner is now the President while a Southerner is the Vice.
The former ANLCA National President said the solution to the so called crisis is for Chief Njoku to accept that he is no longer the Chairman because he had been defeated in a valid election adding that people like Chief Obi and Honourable Nwabunike who has the ANLCA President is in a position to broker a true peace should also stop supporting him but rather advise him to abide by the result of the election .
Elochukwu said on the day of the election , Chief Obi had tried to stop it from holding based may be on an Igbo agenda which he had but which he (Elochukwu ) did not understand but that he did not succeed and so the ballot had to proceed and ended the way it did.
Commenting on the proposition of those who are saying that the current Secretary of the BOT, Prince Taiye Oyeniyi should vacate his position for an Igbo man if a Yoruba man must be the Chairman, he said that would not be fair on him for the fact that when he was nominated unopposed nobody else indicated interest adding that if Chief Obi had done so then , maybe he would have been considered.
According to him, it would not be out of place if Prince Oyeniyi decides to stand down from the position out of his own volition, but that it would be wrong to make it a condition that he should leave his position which he was voted to before solution can be found to the raging crisis.
Already many waters has passed under the bridge since the crisis broke out, as Chief Obi on behalf of Chief Njoku’s group has gone to court asking it to determine those who are bona fide members of the BOT whose names are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
In the same vein, the Western Zone of the Association which had dissolved the Association ASECO , had elected another to organise elections to fill some vacant positions in its chapters in recognition of the Chairmanship of Alhaji Mustapha has also gone to court asking it to uphold the steps it has taken .
While Alhaji Mustapha and his group had insisted that the election of April 13, 2018 remains sacrosanct, it will be recalled also that the ANLCA President had told Marineandeconomy in a chat that part of the solution to the crisis would be for both parties in the BOT to agree to organize another election even as he has started to explore other avenues to end the conflict , while Chief Obi has stated that the Court would be the final arbiter of the crisis.
