Factional Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Chief Henry Njoku has said that he has no special interest in the coming elections into five chapters of the Western Zone of the association.
This is even as he revealed that apart from the ANLCA’s National President, Tony Iju Nwabunike who recently clinched a party ticket to run for election into the House of Representatives, about five other members of ANLCA in Rivers state have also got tickets to run for elections into the Federal House of Representatives and the State House of Assembly.
Njoku in a chat with Shipping Position Daily urged the western zone members to elect whoever they deem fit to protect their interests, not minding tribe or ethnicity.
He said: "I cannot dictate whom they are going to elect or not to elect, our own is to supervise the election and that is all, it is not just to win the elections that matters, it is about after winning the elections and what you do for your people. Today I am happy that people are fighting for the BOT, if we hadn't raised it to the standard it is today, would people be fighting for it?"
"As far as I am concerned, the elections would come and go. It is the people at the chapters that would vote”
"At my level, what I care about is if they could be able to get people that would deliver on their mandate, and make things work for them in the chapters, I don't care whom the person is whether he is Yoruba or Igbo or anywhere he comes from, provided he is able to solve their problems", he said.
Njoku blamed the immediate past national president of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu for allegedly encouraging tribalism in the association.
He said that this was the root cause of the crisis that has engulfed the leadership of the association’s board of trustees.
Njoku however noted that should the ANLCA president, Tony Iju win the elections next year, Yoruba's would have taken over major structures of ANLCA.
He said "Now that Tony has gotten the ticket and he is going for House of Representatives, the Acting President is a Yoruba man, the Secretary is a Yoruba man, then you come to the board and you want Chairman to be a Yoruba man and the Secretary also a Yoruba man. I have told Taiye (Secretary of BOT) that if I am leaving, we should go together, but he doesn't want to leave".
"Before Shittu came, I came up and killed the issue of tribalism, but Shittu came and re-echoed it again, the association is not meant for Yoruba and Igbo alone, we have Hausa and other tribes, we should complement each other", he argued.
Njoku added that: "For them in Lagos, they are used to assembling at the Secretariat to drink, in our Secretariat at Port Harcourt you hardly see people doing that, there is no beer parlor in front of it, but in Lagos, all they think about is association"
"Association is meant to protect our people and make sure the job is made easy and we work together. What is the essence if association if you cannot solve the problems of agents"
"Most them, when they get the position, they become lawless and start fighting", he added.
"While they are there (in Lagos), we have gone far, but they are there killing themselves over association, is it not the same association that Aniebonam is running? What is the big deal about association?"
If you come to the Eastern Zone now, about four to five ANLCA members got tickets for House of Assembly, but they are there in Lagos drinking and making noise".
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