Secretary, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Taiye Oyeniyi, has distanced himself from the recent attack on the association’s secretariat, saying he would not join issues with the National Executive Committee (NECOM).
“I am an educated man and I know what I am doing. If I’m displeased over an issue, I will simply take you to court. We have gone to court and the judge has done the needful. Whatever thing they are saying after that is their business. What do I gain in joining issues with a fool who cannot manage a wife?” Oyeniyi said while speaking with SHIPS & PORTS.
ANLCA has been engulfed in leadership crisis that has affected the entire association in the past two years with the latest attack on its secretariat last week.
The association’s NECOM led by the President, Tony Iju Nwabunike, had accused Oyeniyi of sponsoring thugs who invaded the secretariat allegedly demanding the payment of the sum of one million naira monthly to Oyeniyi.
But speaking with SHIPS & PORTS, Oyeniyi described the allegation as laughable.
He said, “I decided not to join issues with anybody. The truth of the matter is the people alleging that I demanded money from the President have not come out to say it.
“If two parties are quarrelling and I have been able to complain to the law enforcement agencies as far as writing a letter is concerned about the attitude of the President, so if anything happens they will be alleging that somebody is in the know of it. Those are irrelevant issues as far as I am concerned.
“If somebody is President for the past two years and he is now saying today that somebody demanded one million naira and he has not paid the fellow a single naira as at today; that tells you he is not saying the truth.”
Oyeniyi said the BoT led by Taiwo Mustapha will not recognise Nwabunike as ANLCA National President until he (Nwabunike) recognises the Board as a duly constituted organ of the association.
He also said that Nwabunike must and allow the ANLCA BoT perform its responsibility of conducting elections in the association.
He said, “The genesis of the Board problem started from Iju. He was a member of the Board but when he contested and won the election, we advised him to do his job and should not temper with the Board problem, he decided not to listen and put his hands in it.
“They don’t want the Board to exist. When Iju said he is not going to recognise us as Board members, we went to court and the judge ruled that our election is properly conducted and the Board should be allowed to function but Iju continued to violate the law. I have written more than 22 letters to Iju but he decided to ignore those letters.
“The court has said that the Board has come to stay and if anybody has anything against the Board, they should go to court. The tenure of the board started January 16, 2020.”
“Iju should agree that the Board has come to stay and all the election conducted at Airport chapter is illegal. Immediately he accepts that, we too will accept him as President.
“Our role is to supervise the election. The election Iju has done in Kano, Abuja is null and void. Not until this Board recognises Iju and affirm his election, he is no longer the President, that is what the law says.”