The National Executive Committee of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has described as joke of the century, the recent statement by some members of the Board of Trustees that it has got tenure extension.
Shipping Position Daily had reported earlier that four members of the board, namely: Prince Taiye Oyeniyi, Dennis Okafor, Sir Ernest Elochukwu including the supposedly elected chairman of the board; Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha had said the board had got an extension of another six years to stay in office after regularising its registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Mustapha had stated that the board would now proceed to spend another six years in office, since the courts have declared its first six years null and void due to its lack of registration. He had argued that in the eyes of the law, and legally speaking, and based on the court judgement, the tenure of the BOT is just starting on the 16th of January for another six years.
However, speaking to journalists on Friday, the National Secretary of the association, Alhaji Abdulazeez Mukaila described the recent statement by the five members of the board as the greatest joke of the century.
Mukaila stated that by 12 midnight of the Friday (7th of February 2020), their membership of the board will cease while adding that the National Executive Committee will handle all the affairs of the association pending the election of new members to the board.
Mukaila stated that whatever may be the challenge for some of the members of the board not to have got them registered should be an internal issue that should not affect the association.
According to him, “It is in the public domain the distraction that has been going on in the association for over two years now and I hold it a duty to do this as the National Secretary of the association and I have been directed by the President to do this.
“I want to make some clarifications and the first clarification is that by 12:00 hours of today (Friday 7th of February 2020) the tenure of the present board of trustee will expire, and I want to equally state it clearly that nobody gets into ANLCA board unless through an AGM called specifically for that purpose.
“The last time such an AGM was called happens to be at Warri in 2014, that returns the present board, however whatever is their challenge for their inability to get themselves registered after the election, I believe that is an internal issue which is between them, however that does not mean they are not our board, because close to about 600 corporate companies gave them that mandate to sit freely as the board of ANLCA trustees.
“No one will sit in an air condition room and expect such tenure will be extended, it’s a joke of the century and it cannot stand.
The president will make its statement on Monday and clarify more on this, so the point I am making is that by 12 midnight today (Friday) their tenure will end and if anyone desires to be in the board, announcement have been made by ASECO and all we need to do is to make an announcement of the time and venue for the next AGM, that will produce the next board”
“Therefore as from tomorrow, under section 30; section 30 talks about the emergency power of the president, “where any issue or matter arises which is not covered or contemplated in this constitution, the BOT, and or the NECOM shall have power to take decision”, so the president will be taking decision now that the BOT is no longer there.”
Meanwhile, the factional Chairman of the BoT; Chief Henry Njoku has also discredited last week ‘s election, he told our correspondent that ANLCA will soon elect new members of the board.
Njoku, described the election which held last Thursday and which saw Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha emerging as the chairman, as an illegal meeting.
He maintained that it is so unfortunate that despite the court order people are still violating the orders, even as he added that the tenure of the present BoT has expired.
Njoku explained that election of BoT members of the association is normally done during their Annual General Meeting (AGM) and that was not observed last week.
“What they did yesterday (Thursday) was not AGM and they can’t conduct board election like that. It is so unfortunate we have a court order and people are still saying they are having board meeting as far as I am concerned, that was an illegal meeting. Election of the BoT is by AGM, I am chairman of the Board and if there should be a meeting of the board, I should be the one to convey it. So if some people are calling for a meeting it is an illegal meeting and what they did is null and void, it can’t hold, it has no effect on anybody”, he declared.
He corroborated the position f the association’s executive committee on the tenure of the board. According to him, “the tenure of the board has just expired, so if they want to have another board election, there will be an AGM which I will supervise, so they are not the people to do that. It is at the AGM that the board is elected. The tenure has just expired and I will ask the ASECO to call for an AGM and in that AGM, they will do board election. I will ask them to call for the meeting soon”, he concluded.
