Chief Eugene Nweke (President NAGAFF)
Chief Eugene Nweke (President NAGAFF)
I don't see any crisis in ANLCA, because if there are crises in the association I believe by now one or two persons would have come out to make some statement that are unguided, but what you see that is going in ANLCA is the fear of the unknown which has to do with suspicion and interest. The constitution of ANLCA is very clear and there is no form of emergency as far as I am concerned because there is an incumbent president and the tradition is normal, thus the national president has the power to institute a NECOM that will organise election. ANLCA is an association that believes in togetherness, but maybe they are not ready to conduct an election for now that is why people are saying there is crisis.
Prince Emmanuel Offiong (NCMDCLA)
Politics is all about mind games and I guess this is what is happening in ANLCA, because there are some divided interest among members. ANLCA has been in existence for over five decades and things like misunderstanding among the BoT and NECOM are bound to happen. Above all, the election lies squarely in the hands of the sitting president.
Michael Emiko (Stakeholder)
For obvious reasons, the election may not even hold as speculated until issues between the BoT and NECOM are over. But it is also common for individuals to take side when it comes to election matters. In Nigeria today, the ruling party has its own internal problem talk-less of an association therefore we pray they settle it amicably, and then conduct a peaceful election that will usher in new leaders. However it is the duty of the incumbent president to set up an electoral committee and not the board of trustee.
Eniola Odulaja (Stakeholder)
There are bound to be problems when it is time for politics and as we speak, politics is a dirty game, but we can only advice that the association should be seen as a big family devoid of enmity and sycophants hence it the oldest association and we never expected them to let the world to know that there is internal crisis in the association’s election.
Ojo Akintoye (ANLCA, Tin Can Port)
I don't think there is any rancor as far as ANLCA is concerned, I want us to be observant of the trend of the ANLCA elections so far in the past one year. I want us to flash back to what happened in the western zone elections, it was supposed to come up in November 2012, but due to the crisis we had then, the election could not be concluded till June last year. This has affected the BoT election which could not come up until February this year, so the B0T does not have enough time to prepare for the NECOM election, they still need to put a lot of things together part of which is their demand for the statement of account and other documents, if the BoT conduct the election under one month it may not be credible, they needed to look into past elections and the activities of the ASECO. You will agree with me that the last election was bedeviled with crisis and most of the chapters took them to court, so the new BOT still needs to look into all these things before taking any step. The constitution of ANLCA is there to guide us, what they are doing is permitted by the constitution, the NECOM will be extended by three months so that the BoT can put themselves together to conduct a credible election.
Akanni Balogun (ANLCA Cordinator, Tin Can)
I expect the board members being gentlemen, to congratulate the president for his achievements and not to start going into irrelevant issues, the BoT are not being honest to themselves, the majority of the association believes in what Olayiwola Shittu has done, he promoted ANLCA's integrity, if you get to the port now, the customs now respects ANLCA and this is through Olayiwola Shittu's efforts. He was able to subdue the arrogance of the customs to agents, we are not paupers, but the customs continued to look down on us, but now all that has changed and anywhere we go now we hang our emblem proudly, so the board should sit and think, they were not elected to bring crisis into ANLCA. I suspect that some losers in the last western zone elections are using the board members, I will advise them to behave like proper gentlemen, majority of ANLCA members believe in Olayiwola, so they cannot rubbish him, the board should know that, Shittu has the constitutional right to contest for the election. Tony Iju that is now talking, when was the last time he came to the association, he has abandoned the association for more than 10 years, before Olayiwola came in, ANLCA had no secretariat, their properties were thrown out of the Apapa office then, during Elochukwu's tenure they disturbed him from working, it is the same set of people now causing problems.
Prince Kayode Oyinlola (Chairman, Tincan Chapter, ANLCA)
We are only hearing all these in the news, first of all, I am not a member of the BoT and I am not a member of NECOM, we were not there when the President appeared before the board. So far so good, a NEC meeting has been scheduled for Monday, if there is anything going on, this is the highest ruling body to take decision on anything the board might bring up.
Anonymous Licenses Agent
The BoT members have just resumed and I don't think it is right for them to start demanding for things like the account of the association, I believe the association has its auditors who they can call on to do the job, but for the BoT to now start calling the President to demand accounts is rubbish, if they really want to help the association as board members, they should sit down and advice, their role is to complement the effort of the executives, the BOT should not see themselves as a parallel body to the executives, the board cannot dictate to ANLCA members because we are more than them, they are just nine. Members are now more enlightened more than the era of Idonije, nobody can come now and put us in a box, most of our people have their doctorate degrees and many of them are graduates.
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