Mr Ozor Chukwurah, Acting Board Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) says the board has resolved to implement a court judgment on the crisis rocking the association.

Chukwurah who made this known at a media conference in Lagos on Monday, spoke against the background of the locking up of the secretariat by a faction of the association.

Also read: ‘ROFOROFO’ FIGHT: Police Again Seals ANLCA Secretariat, Over Power Tussle

The newsmen report that on Aug. 24, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha, former board chairman whose tenure ended in February 2020 took over the ANLCA secretariat.

Mustapha swore-in Mr Pius Ujubonu as President, Jamiu Adeyinka as Vice President; Joe Sanni, as National Secretary; Francis Ituah as National Publicity Secretary; Alhaji Usman as Treasurer and Waheed Gbadamosi as Financial Secretary in an acting capacity.

According to Chukwurah, there are so many judgements but they have not been implemented because they feel they are one family and keep talking to Mustapha and others, but with the recent development, the matter has gotten out of hand.

He added that the board had no choice but to meet, and resolved to implement all judgments.

He said one of the judgements under Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Lagos High Court on Oct. 11, 2019, gave an injunction restraining Mr Tony Nwabunike, ANLCA president, from recognizing Mustapha as the chairman of the board of ANLCA.

He said the judgement went on to say that Mustapha should stop parading himself as board chairman and would not be recognized by the Cooperate Affairs Commission as a member of the board.

“This issue of ANLCA has lingered so much and the board has taken steps to nip it in the board.

We have given everything to bring in peace but they don’t want the peace.

“We have constituted a panel to see how to bring peace to the association, their members were part of the panel but they refused to implement the decision of the panel,” he said.

Chukwurah said the board would also write to the police and advised them to stop supporting any type of illegality from the other side.

“They have closed our office for five weeks and we have swallowed all insults but this has to stop, their behavior is putting the association in a bad light,” he said.

Also, Dr Kayode Farinto, Acting President, ANLCA, said on constitution amendment, an annual general meeting was conducted, with members present, while some voted online.

Farinto said someone suggested that in view of all crises witnessed, every office should run for one single term, board of trustees six years, NECOM five years, chapter executives four years, all for one term.

“The issue of tenure elongation was not our making, it was a unanimous decision at the AGM and it was agreed upon,” he said.

Mustapha, however, noted that the tenure of the current NECOM had ended in February and that whatever constitution amendment they purportedly carried out in December 2020 in Owerri remained null and void.

“What they did was tenure elongation, it is illegal and it is not acceptable,” he said.

Mustapha noted that Tony Iju’s camp in the past decided to frustrate every peaceful move that was being made in the ANLCA crisis.