There is palpable fear within the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) as the July 13th (this Friday) compulsory handover date issued to its Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman, Chief Henry Njokwu approaches.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily at the weekend, a strong member of the BOT, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha who was reportedly elected as the new Chairman of the board vowed that come Friday 13th, notwithstanding Chief Njoku’s unwillingness to surrender power, he is ready to take over his mandate.
This is even as sources within the association who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent last week that, should Njoku refuse to yield power to Mustapha, the association may break into factions.
There has been leadership crisis and tribal war within the board of ANLCA in the past three months since its immediate past national president, Prince Olayiwola Shittu left office and handed over to Tony Nwabunike. Some Westerners in the association argued that Njoku has overstayed as BOT chairman and should yield the floor for a Yoruba man in order to balance power in the association.
Njoku was reportedly given three months to conduct election and handover to another board chairman, Taiwo Mustapha whom the board had elected on the 13th of April, the eve of the official handing over of the new national executives at Golden Tulip Hotel in Festac Lagos.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily last week, Alhaji Mustapha expressed confidence that come Friday 13th, he would take over as the new BOT Chairman of ANLCA.
He said “By the grace of God, he would be handing over on the 13th of July 2017 which is next week Friday, as far as we are concerned on our side, we were the ones that conceded for that date, he didn’t request for it, we were the ones that conceded it just to create peace, and as we have allowed the peace to reign up this point, whether he is ready to resign or not, we would take over by the grace of God”
“It is not a question of being ready for it or not, it is a question of what is right and the ideal thing, so if he is not ready to step down, we cannot all be sleeping on the wrong side of the parallel, we are on the right side and we have dimmed it feat that in order to create peace within ourselves and move ANLCA forward, we should give that concession, so it is not a question of whether he is ready to step down, definitely by the grace of God, I will take over by next week Friday”
“I still have the support of my board members, five of us are still standing together, but I don’t know if two of them who were against me were still standing together or he (Njoku) is standing alone, but I know that five of us are still standing together”
While debunking reports of imminent disconnection between the board and the new executives under Nwabunike, Mustapha said, “if we disagree on an issue doesn’t mean that there is a disconnection, it is not a crisis, even between twins, they can disagree on a particular issue, but that doesn’t mean they are fighting over it”
He assured that immediately the change has been effected on Friday; there would be a press release from the new board.
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