In this interview with Shipping Position Daily Newspaper, Secretary of the Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha-led Board of Trustees of ANLCA; Prince Taiye Oyeniyi opened up on the protracted crises in the association. He also gives condition for peace and reconciliation.
Why did the BoT which you belong to decide to take over ANLCA Secretariat?
It is a very simple matter. All the efforts to resolve these issues for the past four and half years proved abortive. We have gone everywhere for settlement such as – the AIG Zone 2, AIG Maritime, and the Commissioner of Police Lagos State, which also set up a committee. At a time, we agreed, but when we discovered that they are not prepared, we decided to look at the powers of the Board. And what does it say? When there is crisis, the Board of Trustees takes over and more importantly the tenure of the NECOM has expired since 16th of April, 2022. We now decided that anywhere we go, the goal is that they were there because there should not be any vacuum in an association. Because of that, we decided to put in place an interim government; more importantly because the tenure of the NECOM has expired. Also, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, they have been putting administrators there and they are claiming that it is not in our constitution. The big question is that why did they use administrations in the airport? So the board is taking over and we have put an interim government in place which is supposed stand in for 90 days; before the recent developments in the association. That day that we took over, every chapter was duly-represented.
Everyone in the industry knows that there are two BoTs in ANCLA. How do you reconcile this?
To Nigerians, it may sound like that but mere looking at it, in year 2020, the present ANLCA NECOM decided to take some other actions and I want to tell you that that board you are talking about is existing only on paper, while ours is documented. What I mean by that is that, we are the registered Board members. They claimed they have gone to Owerri to assemble an Annual General Meeting. But if you go to our constriction, it is very clear on the composition of our Annual General Meeting (AGM). The President can be the chairman, but who are the people who are supposed to be their – elected executives and registered board members and the leaders of the association if they so wish to be invited to be there. if that has been done, it is a contravention to the constitution and cannot stand the test of time. So saying that there are two boards is just to deceive Nigerians, but for us we have only one board.
Recently, the faction headed by Dr. Taiwo Afolabi brought out a certificate and showed it to everyone. What is your take on this?
It is laughable, because our tenure is only six years. Though we were elected in 2014, then a few people decide to take laws into their hands. When were elected, we were supposed to get registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, but unfortunately our former Chairman of the Board, Chief Henry Njoku before he joined the board in 2012, they were elected 2008 and there was no registration. All attempts to get it registered were abortive until January 16, 2020, when we were able to register our BoT and the CAC Act says until you are registered. So indirectly, our time started counting from 2020 till 2026. So if there’s any registration again from anywhere, it means it is against the Rules of Engagement and the Rule of Law. This is because assuming that was done after our tenure, then we can look at it. But it was done before our tenure. That is why till today, our Board has been writing letters out. None of their board members can write any letter. So it is good for you to say you are a King without a Palace or you say you are leading people and there are no followers. As far as we are concerned, the Western Zone has the majority out of the total members of the association. For instance, out of 2,000 members of the association, we have over 1400 in Lagos and I can tell you that we are in control. So there is no problem. I don’t believe that there are two Boards or two Certificates. We have only one. Speaking on the one they are flying about, there is a letter dated 23rd of March, 2021 where they made an attempt to register the board and we have a letter that says it cannot be registered because of the case in court and that has to be done after the determination of the case. So the judgment they used was a ‘Kangaroo judgment’ which has been appealed against at the Court of Appeal at Ibadan. They got that judgment at Abeokuta and they were both the plaintiff and defendant. So all these will be proved. We have agreed, we are all grown up men and we are matured. ANLCA is the house that built us, we are not going to let it crumble. That was why we didn’t resort to any other act to resolve the problem.
Who is the Chairman of your own Board?
The Chairman of our Board is Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha and why he has not performed so well before was because he was taken to court by Chief Peter Obi who violated section 26 of our constitution, that says no member of the Board or member of the association can go to court without exhausting the mechanism of internal settlement and when that one fails then you go for arbitration. All these things were violated by them and that was the beginning of the problem. If we decide to follow the constitution, we will leave it as it is and you will lose out. That was why we had to go back to court. That was what happened.
There have been allegations that you were given money to register the BoT, and that you did not do it. Can you clear this?
Well, those stories have been going round for years. Let me clear it. Three lawyers were given money. Our Legal adviser at that time was given money. Chief Njoku brought a Lawyer from Port Harcourt and she was given money. I introduced another lawyer who was given money too. None of these three lawyers was able to register the Board. If I joined the board in 2012 and there is a board from 2008, what were they doing between 2008 and 2012? So you will discover that any name can be given to a dog in order to hang it. But personally, I am a man of integrity. I spent my money on ANLCA. I didn’t even sign cheque. The cheque is signed by Chief Henry Njoku and late Aare Sanni Shittu, but I keep the cheque just for control.
Why did your BoT decide to set up an interim NECOM for ANLCA?
We discovered that when their tenure expired, they were still laying claim to it anywhere they go. They organized what is called a ‘Kangaroo’ Annual General Meeting (AGM). That AGM is in variance with our constitution. They now decided to extend their tenure by one year. I have never seen any incumbent who has a mandate of four years and now decide to extend his tenure. Even if that is allowed, the incumbent should not benefit from it. Then they changed the constitution. The 2008 constitution was the one we used to swear them in. Since that time there was no other constitution. They went and printed a constitution that was not debated or agreed upon and said they changed the four years’ tenure. The Certificate of Return that they have that was issued to them by the Board and the former President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu indicated four years. That Certificate is a mandate that shows where the tenure started and where it ended. So you cannot just increase your tenure or extend it by saying that you are claiming that you want to change. Is it possible for someone to do anything in crises? Where is it done in the whole world? They are only economical with the truth because they believe that in order to deceive the public, they can have their way. But of course we are not against the settlement of the problem for the past four and half years, all we are saying is that the right thing must be done.
Watch Also: Shipping Position Interaction with Prince Taiye Oyeniyi
The CRFFN is making efforts to resolve the crises. Are you ready to accept what the CRFFN says?
I have to commend the chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria for that initiative. But whether we like it or not, they are government agencies and they are saddled with the management and regulation of freight forwarding in Nigeria. Whatever their findings are is welcomed and I am very sure that they have even set up a committee to look into the problem. I am very happy that during their meeting with the Commissioner of Police about some days ago, two of them were selected to be in the meeting. Unfortunately, our big brother and father, Alhaji Moshood Tijani had another appointment but one of them was in the meeting and the Commissioner of Police asked him a simple question which was: “What are you doing to settle this problem?” and he said the committee has started sitting and an interim report has been agreed upon. But there’s a part of their recommendation which states that ANLCA will remain closed until the final settlement of this problem. Whatever thing they come up with, we will abide by it. But we believe that at the end of the day, they will do justice. This is because I have seen a few things for what they are doing now and the level they are. But let me say that it is only a fraction of the ANLCA members that are members of the Council’s Board, because they selected themselves to go there.
There have been some suggestions that there should be elections into the NECOM and the BoT, so that we can have new set of people. Do you accept that?
That can be achieved after the amicable settlement of this matter. Remember when there’s a case in court, it is sub judice to discuss it. But with mutual understanding, with the present registered Board there are two certificates which the law enforcement agencies should work on to get to the root of the matter and find out the truth. From 2020 till date, which is almost two years, our mandatory years of the Board still have four years remaining for peace to reign. If after we have looked at this matter, and we decide to give peace a chance, majority of us in the other Board here are people with a lot of experience, age wise and Captains in the maritime industry. We have people like Chief Denis Okafor, Sir Ernest Elochukwu is our former President. Alhaji Mustapha who is our present Chairman was a man who has tried all his possible best to get this matter resolved and my good self. So I pray that majority of the people should give peace a chance. I want to thank the people who have made calls to me and see that we should look at it objectively and that we should find a way out. But it is not good that as we are discussing, peace the other group will do something else. That is what is compounding the crises in the association.
In the last four years, ANLCA has gone down and people have said ANLCA has died. What is your reaction to this?
I will agree with you that things have not been going on fine but at the same time, a house built on a rock cannot be easily destroyed by a storm, so if anybody says ANLCA is dead, I don’t agree with them. ANLCA is in recess and will come up again.
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