ANLCA CRISES FESTERS: Two Chairmen Lay Claim To Tin Can Chapter Secretariat Building

• I was the elected Chairman by the election conducted by authentic BoT—Mojeed Akanni

• Tony has no capacity to lead ANLCA, he is on a mission to destroy—Ex President

The lingering face-off in the Association of Nigeria Licensed Agents (ANLCA) has assumed yet another dimension, with the emergence last week in Lagos, of another set of chapter executives in the western zone of the association.

The elections which were conducted under the watch of the association’s national executive committee (NECOM) came few weeks after the controversial Board of Trustees (BoT) headed by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha conducted elections which saw the emergence of executives for the chapters in Lagos.

Already, two factional chairmen have laid claim to the Tin Can Secretariat of the association, claiming right to operate the Tin Can Island port secretariat.

Recall that the BoT had in January conducted elections at the Tin Can chapter that ushered in Mojeed Akanni as the Chairman.

However, last week, the association’s NECOM led by Mr Tony Nwabunike conducted its own election that ushered in Ojo Peter Akintoye as the Chairman of the same Tin Can chapter of the association.

Following the development, the two chairmen have laid claim to be the authentic chairman of the association and should operate the Tin Can Secretariat office of the association.

Speaking to our correspondent, Mr Mojeed Akanni argued that the election conducted by the NECOM (which ushered in his rival) cannot stand, stating that there is a court injunction restraining the NECOM members to stop parading themselves as executives of the association. He insisted that he is the authentic chairman of the Tin Can Island chapter of the association, who is qualified to run the secretariat.

According to him, “the election conducted by the NECOM is not an election, there is an injunction already on it, and their lawyer was in the court when the injunction was pronounced and if you don’t have ulterior motives how can you go and conduct election in the dead of the night, when already you have injunction not to do so. Anyway the court is there to define what is on ground. I am the authentic BoT elected chairman, my election was conducted around January this year by the authentic BoT and already the court has asked the NECOM not to parade themselves as NECOM any longer, so I am the authentic chairman” he said.

On his part, Mr. Ojo Peter Akintoye, the rival chairman of the Tin Can Chapter and product of the NECOM election also claimed to be the recongnised chairman of the association.

He said, according to the ANLCA constitution, the BoT that conducted the western zone election has no constitutional backing to do so, while alleging that the tenure of the BoT that conducted the election was over and as such has no constitutional power to conduct election.

In his words: “For your  information, the people that conducted the election that called themselves BoT,  they are no more BoT of ANLCA, a new BoT has emerged December 16 2020, because the former BoT’s  tenure has elapsed and the association recognized that and they  went ahead and conducted that election, if the BoT that conducted Alhaji Mojeed election knows that their tenure has not expired why are they not challenging the election of the new BoT, why are they not taking the new BoT to court. The constitution of ANLCA stated it clear and clean, the tenure of those people has expired and they are gone for good. And for your information, it is not the BoT that is supposed to conduct election they are just to monitor election as stipulated in ANLCA constitution, the BoT does not have any right to conduct election, neither do they have the right to swear in anybody, the certificate of return for any election is always signed by three people”.

“For who runs the secretariat, I believe God and the law enforcement people will solve that out for us , the law will take its own cause, because it is the President that has the power to inaugurate anybody elected. In my own case, he has done such, I was given a certificate signed by him and ASECO chairman and the BoT representative present at the election, so I don’t have problem”, he added.

“I don’t know if you are aware that it is only Tin Can chapter that has a secretariat as far as western zone is concerned, go to Apapa they don’t have a secretariat, go to PTML, they are under one umbrella and they have been ruling that place for more than five to seven years and common rented apartment they cannot pay for themselves.

“So by virtue of converting the Tin Can secretariat to Western zone office, it means that the chairman of the Tin Can chapter has no office in Tin Can Island, so they themselves are aware of what they doing, but the law will take its cause and everything will be sorted out, I believe by the help of the Almighty God I serve”, he said.

Meanwhile, a former President of the association, Ernest Elochukwu has called out the incumbent president, Mr Tony Nwabunike. He accused him of being totally responsible for the crisis which has engulfed the association for about three years.

According to him, ANLCA is headed by an incompetent leader.  He tols Shipping Position Daily that: “What is wrong with ANLCA presently is a glaring case of leadership incapacity on the part of a man who presented himself for the position of national president of ANLCA and that is Mr Anthony Iju Nwabunike, he has shown incapacity to be a leader”.

He explained that the president of the association got involved I a simple matter that is within the association’s BoT, and got himself entangled for reasons best known to him”.

Elochukwu who is also a member of the association’s BoT, claimed that Nwabunike’s behaviour is symptomatic of someone with a mission to destroy the association.

When asked if there is no solution to the face-off, he told our correspondent that, “the way forward is for Tony Nwabunike to understand that the dictate of leadership requires wisdom. The way he is going about, maybe he is on a mission to destroy ANLCA”.