Prince Bamigbala Adewusi is the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Chapter Chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA). In this interview with Oluyinka Onigbinde, he sheds light on his travails in the office. He also speaks about the crisis in the association.
There have been lots of controversies concerning your tenure as the Chairman of the ANLCA Airport Chapter. Can you throw more light on this?
There are lots of issues to discuss, but the one on ground is the letter that was shared on our platform that we have been suspended; myself and my executives. There is no place investigations were made either on our financial record or anything that has to do with our income. We are not also owing the national body a dime. We see it has witch-hunting. Why will they have some people to take over from us when our tenure is still running? They said they are trying to obey the judgment that is being appealed. In the process, that has not been succeeded, because the court told them not to do anything until it is well-explained through the court. Now, they do not want to wait for the court to take a decision. They are taking a decision for the court by suspending us, because we were not found wanting on anything. They suspended us from making a lot of allegations which are all unfounded. We have to make sure that we go back to our position. There is no time we have owed the association any amount. We have not done anything to warrant suspension.
Why do you think the NECOM is bent on getting you out of office?
It is not the NECOM. There is nowhere the NECOM has asked me to move out of office. Even in the last NEC meeting we had, they tried to plan it, but we were able to stop it; until we finished the meeting, there was no time for the NECOM to be notified that we should be removed from office. On this matter, we can say it is some few people that I believe are working for Temitope Akindele because of their closeness during the time of crisis between NECOM and the Western zone of the association and they don’t want to wait. The Judgment they are talking about that they wanted to work on was appealed. Asides that, there is another judgement which is also being appealed. So there are two appeal judgements on this seat that I am sitting. We all know that where there is an appeal, we all have to wait till the appeal takes a decision. But still, when it comes to fundamental human rights, they made a statement and we just have to court for interpretation. After all, we were not found wanting for anything. No matter how powerful ANLCA is, it is not more powerful than the Nigerian constitution on fundamental human rights.
There are allegations that the judgment you are parading has been nullified by one Mr Temitope Akindele
It is Temitope Akindele that is parading judgments and not me. I have never been to the court before. Even the court of Temitope Akindele did not even involve me in the first place. It was between Temitope and his group with the NECOM. It was when the Customs Consultative Council came in that every one dropped their own swords. The NECOM then was able to appeal that cas,e but in the cause of doing that, they succeeded in filing the appeal properly. They even told anybody not to go to court anymore. On the basis of that understanding, I don’t think even the NECOM that is querying me has the locus standi to do that because the election that brought them in is a kind of ‘arrangement’ election. Because it is never done in the Elections of ANLCA Constitution that two chairmen will be voting in a chapter. It is unconstitutional. But because of the reconciliation that was on ground then, they managed it. The judgement they are talking about does not only affect the airport chapter here, it is supposed to affect all the chapters. So if that judgement is in vogue, why did they take the interim management team to another chapter? Definitely the judgement is not standing. They are just witch-hunting us here. This is because we are powerful. This is the only chapter they are generating the highest dues and we have been paying our dues up till date. So there is nothing. Even when there is anything and they call on us, we oblige them. There are some key people amongst the NECOM like Olumide Fakanlu, who is very close to Temitope Akindele, and Segun Oduntan is the ‘Capon’ in the last crusade of the western zone. So these are the people they are trying to bring into the system, but without being a party to the crisis here at the airport, nobody can drag us into that. Here it is very volatile. That is why from day one, ANLCA never supported anyone and I am personally angry with myself and some of my executives because we all supported them during the time of crisis which we all believe that by now, the crisis should have been settled. We are not fighting for anything.
So, are you saying they are witch hunting you because of your support for Farinto and the last NECOM?
If you are talking about witch hunting, it is not because of Farinto, but because of the last NECOM. If not that the NECOM is elected constitutionally, why would they want to stop us in the middle of the tenure. It means that they are still fighting that NECOM despite the fact that they have handed over to you. This is because they are in position now. Assuming they did election and other people came to cut short their tenure, it means they do not have interest in that NECOM. So it is witch hunting.
What is your next line of action now that the NECOM says you are suspended?
Since we are in court, nobody can suspend me. It is in the law because they are already being stopped by the Court not to disturb our operations. They did not even go to court to understand the issues. They are doing this on their own, because when they get to court, they will be told what it is. But there is a standing order that they should not disturb us and not to even talk about our suspension.
Were you given any notification or the letter of suspension?
It was on Thursday last week that a letter was sent to me, that I was suspended because I misappropriated N25 million without giving us any money to keep. Many people don’t know the meaning of misappropriation. When there is a project, there is a budget. If you give us the money and we did not deliver or we increased or did anything with the money, that is when it becomes misappropriation. But you did not give us any money. I was even the one that went to claim the N25 million from the last NECOM. When they now came up with their own agenda, then I told them that we did not owe them. We are up to date. It is even them that should give us the N25 million, but we left it because their government is still new. So that’s what they said we are misappropriating.
What was the N25 Million for?
There is a letter to that effect. When we were queried, part of their query was that we are owing N14 million which is the money we are not remitting to the national body. We then wrote them a letter that we are not owing them a dime; even the national body is supposed to pay us N25 million. Everyone knows that before you can embark on any project in this era, you will have to draw up some expenses before even getting an approval at all. So it is the NECOM that is owing us. if the past NECOM is owing us, practically you are the one to pay it. So on this note, we are not owing any money to the national body and we do not deserve that suspension. All is just witch hunting because some people believe we are not supportive in terms of their internal arrangements to do anything against the last NECOM. Let us follow due process and everyone is aware of that. If we are not accepted by our members, they would have gone to the office to say that.
Do you have the support of your members?
Yes, we have their full support because we have been doing the job we were elected to do. We were not appointed; we were elected by the members. People that elected us still trust in us and believe in us.
When is your tenure expected to expire?
My tenure will expire on the 14th of January 2026. I still have a year and six months for one single tenure.
We have seen ANCLA appoint coordinators at some of the chapters in the South West, do you think that should occur here?
Why it cannot happen is because the election here was well-conducted constitutionally. Our certificates were duly signed by both the board, ASECO, and the President as stipulated by our constitution. And the person that I defeated in that election is in Court complaining that a lot of my documents are not genuine. At the end of the day, it did not work out. These are the struggles I have been going through on this seat. There was a chapter that had two chairmen. It was never done here at the airport. Even Tope and his group accepted me as their chairman. It is until this NECOM came on board thinking that they are protecting the interest of Tope because they have been together before. They have been doing everything to unseat us so that they will bring them in. Even to my surprise, the election that the certificate was not signed by the President then, has only Tope. But by that time they wanted to swear in additional people who were not even part of that election. Some of them did not even pick up a form in the first place. That is why this is witch hunting.
As it stands, they have done the timetable for the election. Will your suspension affect the chance of you re-contesting as the Chairman of this Chapter?
The timetable is here. I don’t think they have done another one. The timetable is for BoT elections. It is never a chapter election. So if I am done with my remaining one year and half tenure, I don’t think I have the right to say I want to recontest. Why you are seeing all these letters here and there is because they don’t want us to participate in the board elections. So tomorrow if you hear another court case, you cannot disenfranchise me because you don’t like my face. So everything is an arrangement and it cannot stand.
