There is no doubt that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) is the oldest umbrella body for all licensed customs agents in Nigeria.
The association has at different times had different leaders, but it has remained an indivisible entity over the years; that is, until events of the last one or two years.
Dr Rafiu Oladipo is credited as being the first president of the association. Older members of ANLCA also say that there was an interregnum of some years before Alhaji Sani Kamba later stepped-in to become the national president of a new-look association.
Alhaji Kamba’s tenure was followed by that of Mr Peter Okocha, late Aare Sanni Shittu, Alhaji Inua Mohammed and Chief Ernest Elochukwu as national presidents in that order.
Prince Olayiwola Shittu is officially, the seventh national president of ANLCA. He was succeeded by incumbent Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike.
From the above, ANLCA has always been one indivisible association, with one National Executive Committee (NECOM) and one Board of Trustees (BoT). Even at the chapter levels, ANLCA was one indivisible association. Sadly, this is no longer the case, especially since the emergence of the current set of national executives.
Never in the history of ANLCA have things degenerated to what it is. Yes, there were instances of disagreement, yet they were resolved, yet some people felt aggrieved, but they didn’t pull down the association. The worst that had ever happened was that such people pulled out, and ANLCA matched on.
Perhaps, the biggest sign that ANLCA may have escalated its nearly two-year old crisis was the contentious election of a parallel BoT in December 2020 in Imo State. The election saw the emergence of nine new members of the board, even when the current occupants of the office still lay claim to being the authentic BoT members.
Of course, after the election, the factional BoT chairman; Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha called the executives and those who organised the election jesters, who should not be taken seriously.
Perhaps, to prove that he and his BoT members are still in charge and performing their statutory duty as enshrined in the constitution of ANLCA, the Mustapha-led faction organised elections into the Murtala Mohammed International Airport chapter of the association. As at today, the MMIA chapter has two executive councils!
To further affirm that ANLCA is now a Two-In-One association, a member of the association who goes by the name; Chima Obi Best, also claimed the chairmanship of ANLCA Association Electoral Commission (ASECO).
This jolted the executive leadership of the association, which had to hurriedly do a disclaimer and reaffirm the position of Barrister Oyimba Raymond Enekwechi as the association’s ASECO chairman.
There are unconfirmed reports that, the Mustapha-led BoT is planning similar elections in chapters in the Western zone of the association. If and when this happens, then the warring factions have only escalated the crisis to the chapters where there will now be two parallel executives.
To confirm that, last week saw the emergence of another set of executives at the Tin Can Island chapter of the association!
The Vice President of ANLCA; Mr Kayode Farinto, perhaps in an attempt to beat the Mustapha-led BoT to its game, also last week disclosed that the chapter elections will come up between February 10th and February 20th.
If and when these happen, the fears that have been expressed in many quarters about the determination of the current leadership at both the executive and the board levels to kill the association by being unbending in their selfish positions, would have fully materialized.
With several court cases and now, two parallel board members and emerging parallel chapter executives, ANLCA has finally caved-in (in the middle) and has indeed become a 2-in-1 association!
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