When Mr Lucky Amiwero of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents was thrown into Kirikiri prison last September, it was on the basis of not being able to meet the bail conditions that were set for him by the Apapa Magistrate court.
This was the climax of his long-drawn battle against the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). He had filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos challenging the outcome of the elections that was conducted by the Nigerian Shippers Council into the governing council of CRFFN.
His bone of contention was that the electoral process was far from being fair and in the suit, he joined the Minister of transport, the Nigerian Shippers Council and the Chairman of the governing council of CRFFN as defendants. He was persuaded to withdraw the suit, but he refused and he was subsequently ‘punished’; at first, with his controversial removal as the president of his association; the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents and later, with a one week humiliating detention at the Kirikiri prison.
In the last few weeks, there have been series of agitations making the rounds between parties to the conflict involving the CRFFN and CWCFFN and all these point to one fact – that all is not well in the freight forwarding family.
Even though latest information indicates that the feuding parties appear to have embraced peace, the fact still remains that the bone of contention has not been resolved.
The contentions are: that the process leading to the elections into the governing council of CRFFN about two years ago were allegedly fraudulent, that the CRFFN is being operated like an agency under the ministry of transport and that the CRFFN is not carrying its constituents (freight forwarders) along in its day-to-day activities and that by accident or by predetermination, composition of the CRFFN governing council does not reflect the intendment of the Act which establish it.
Now let us look at the issues that led Mr Amiwero to the Federal High Court in Lagos. He was not satisfied with the manner in which the Nigerian Shippers’ Council organised the elections in which he and many other notable licensed customs agents lost. He has since been alleging fraud. He has refused to have anything to do with the CRFFN or its governing council since then. He also refused to participate in any of the council’s activities; including the recently conducted verification exercise.
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