BY FRANCIS EZEM

The Board of Trustees BOT of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents ANCLA has said there is no crisis both in the board and the association at large. This is contrary to insinuations that there are crises in the association less than one week after the inauguration of the new National Executive Committee NECOM of the association.

Secretary of the BOT, Taiwo Oyeniyi, who briefed members of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria MARAN in Lagos at the weekend in company of a member of the board, Dayo Azeez, insisted that there was no reason for any crisis within the board or the association, which has just concluded a successful transition from one democratically elected government to another, which is first of its kind since it was formed in 1954.

He also pledged that the board and indeed every member of the 17 chapters of ANLCA is 100 per cent in support of the newly inaugurated National Executive Committee of the association headed by Iju Tony Nwabunike, saying that there was need to support the new government so that it would build and sustain the progress made in the last eight years.

He however disclosed that there was a minor cabinet reshuffle in the board, which led to the emergence of Taiwo Mustafa as the new chairman to pilot it activities for the next two years. This change in the leadership of the BOT, according to him, follows an agreement reached by the nine members of the current board.

It was gathered that the BOT held a meeting on April 13, 2018 a day before the inauguration of the new NECOM where the new chairman, who had been appointed the coordinator in the last nine months was elected for another term of two years in line with the agreement reached in its earlier meeting.

Oyeniyi however alleged that the immediate past chairman of the BOT, Henry Njoku, who was part of the agreement to rotate the chairmanship of the board among its member for every two years allegedly tried to frustrate its implementation as a ploy to remain in office, which members resisted this time by electing Mustafa.

He also accused the former chairman of not setting up an arbitration panel to address some election petitions shortly after the conclusion of the national elections, insisting that the new chairman would take steps to address those concerns in order to foster peace and unity in the association.

He said: “There is no crisis ANCLA or its BOT. What happened is that the board decided to change its chairman, who has been in power for some years now and this follows an agreement reached by all the board members, so we were surprised over insinuations that there was crisis in the BOT or the association.

“Every member of the association including the BOT has resolved to support and queue behind the newly elected president, Iju Tony Nwabunike for the good of the entire association because whatever is happening within the BOT is an internal matter and we are taking urgent steps to address them. We cannot afford to have crisis at this point in the history of the association and there is no need for one”.

Recall that the association on March 8, 2018 in Enugu, capital city of Enugu State held its national elections in which Iju Nwabunike emerged winner, having polled 38 votes as against the 35 votes polled by his closest rival, Emenike Nwokeoji and was officially sworn in on April 14, 2018.