ANLCA set to enforce court judgements against expelled members – BoT
….says Taiwo Mustapha board fake, not registered as claimed
The Board of Trustees (BoT), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) said it has resolved to implement all court judgements that has been given on the unending leadership tussle between the association and some of its expelled members.
It said the decision was reached after efforts to amicably settle the lingering crises and restore unity between both parties proved abortive, while the dissident group continued to smear the image of the association by its conduct, thereby bringing it to disrepute.
Vice Chairman of the BoT, Chief Ozor Chukwura who made this known during a press briefing in Lagos on Monday also called on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) not to take sides in the matter or support illegality, following the recent unlawful invasion of its national secretariat by the said group.
He reiterated that the present National Executive Committee (NECOM) which came into power in 2020 at the Owerri Annual General Meeting (AGM) is the authentic and recognised one, adding that the other group is only out to destroy the peace of the association and disrupt activities of the Tony Iju Nwabunike led regime.
Chukwura said: “We are here to tell the press to help us inform the world about this crisis in ANLCA that has lingered so much. The board has taken some serious steps and resolutions to stop it.
“From the time that our president was here, even before he travelled out, we have done all to bring peace, but it seems like it is not wanted. They insulted our president and as a result were suspended, although when we pleaded with him to pardon them, he did and restored them to their stations. He has been doing virtually everything he can to make peace reign; we all started as one, and it is an association of equals, but some people are beginning to feel like they are more than others.
“They have instituted so many cases against us, and we also have against them, and we have won all. Judgments were given, yet they have refused to bow to the law. We had our elections on the 13th of February, 2014, where the past board were elected, and their tenure expired in 2020. Now, we are in 2022, yet some of them are still claiming to be in office.
“A lot of things have happened; one of the past board members went to court and returned with a judgment, which I have here with me; it states that the president ( Nwabunike) should not recognise the authority of the third defendant (Taiwo Mustapha) as a member of the board and a board chairman, it was issued on the 11th of October 2019 by the Federal High Court.
Even in the CAC, they are not recognised as members of the board, yet we keep playing games and the person in question is still parading himself as a board chairman, contrary to this judgment.
“There is another judgement that confirms that this present board is the authentic one, and so many others, yet we do not enforce them because we are one big family, but the matter has gotten out of hand. Hence, we have no choice but to call a meeting, and the board has resolved to implement all court judgments. We have also resolved to write to the police and implore them to stop all illegalities. Some of our offices have been shut down, and the police allowed it for five weeks. They have continued to attack us, yet we have refused to fire back at them until now.
“Hence, the police should help us stop this illegality of them coming to lock our secretariat; they have no business there, because they have been expelled. If they want to, they can go to court to challenge the expulsion, because as far as we are concerned, they are no longer our members.
“Mustapha was an interim chairman for 10 months, yet he didn’t deem it fit to register their names, and the problem was only between them at the board level. They also allowed it to affect the day-to-day running of the association when it wasn’t supposed to, yet they kept swearing people in without any authority”.