ANLCA ELECTIONS:

As the countdown to the chapter elections in the Western zone of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) begins, the apex Yoruba umbrella body for freight forwarders; the National Oodua Maritime Forum has dissociated itself  from the comments made by its Tin Can Island chapter chairman; Alhaji Ganiyu Adebanjo.

As the countdown to the chapter elections in the Western zone of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) begins, the apex Yoruba umbrella body for freight forwarders; the National Oodua Maritime Forum has dissociated itself  from the comments made by its Tin Can Island chapter chairman; Alhaji Ganiyu Adebanjo.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the Tin Can port chapter had last week vowed that no ethnic group, other than the Yorubas can emerge as chairman of any chapter in the Western zone of the association in the coming elections. He added that aspiring candidates can only be offered the post of vice chairmen, secretaries or public relations officers in the chapters of the association in Yoruba land.
But, a visibly angry the national president of the forum; Chief Segun Oyeniran told our correspondent last Friday that  Tin Can Island  chairman was not authorized to speak and that he was speaking his mind alone and not the mind of the forum.
He stated pointedly that, the outburst of the Tin Can port chapter was not acceptable to the national forum and that members of ANLC should disregard the comment.
“We implore members of ANLCA to regard those statements as an expression of Alhaji Ganiyu’s personal opinion, which he is entitled to in the exercise of his fundamental human rights, and not that of all the nine chapters that comprises National Oodua Maritime Forum”
The national president’s reaction was the climax of series of condemnation of the comments of the Tin Can chapter chairman, which many considered as very inflammatory and one that is capable of creating ethnic divisions in ANLCA ahead of the elections which may hold next month.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the embattled Tin Can chairman pointedly told our correspondent that: "The only thing we can accept is that, any ethnic group can become a vice chairman and not chairman in western zone”, even as he added that:  ” It is not possible for me now to go to the East and say iIwant to become  chairman there".

"The other ethnic groups like the Igbos  might want to tell us that Nigerian ports is for everybody, yest, it is, but we also have Nigerian ports in other places like Port Hacourt and so on, but this Western Zone belongs to Oodua" he had said.
But shortly after the story was published, notable leaders of ANLCA of Yoruba extraction, top among which was former Tin Can chapter and Western zone chairman; Prince Taiye Oyeniyi condemned the statement in strong terms.
Prince Oyeniyi, who is also the secretary of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the association told our correspondent that Alhaji Ganiyu could not have been speaking the minds of Oodua Maritime Forum.