The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has disclaimed four chieftains of the association purportedly appointed by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha- led factional group of the association. In this interview with Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila, the National Secretary of ANLCA, the four persons appointed by the factional leader of the association into the interim NECOM of the factional group are not known under the supreme constitution of ANLCA because they don’t have valid customs licenses to practise as customs brokers.They include Pius Ujubuonu, the Acting National President, Adeyinka Jamiu Ishola, the Acting National Vice President, Waheed Badmus, the Acting Financial Secretary and Francis Ozemede Itua, the Acting National Publicity Secretary (NPS) of the factional group.Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila further disclosed that the four persons appointed by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha have no Licenses and that Mustapha who claimed to be a leader in ANLCA should know the association’s constitution, wondering if he was just being mischievous to cause confusion in ANLCA.
Excerpts.
As the National Secretary of ANLCA and custodian of a database of the Association, it is no longer news that with the intervention of the CRFFN, your AGM will be holding soon. We know this is not the first time you are holding an AGM, but the story outside there seems as this is your first AGM, can you tell us the criteria and conditions for members to attend this all-important AGM?
Thank you for having me, the constitution of ANLCA irrespective of any version at your disposal, Section (4), under Membership stipulates that members of the association shall be limited to corporate bodies incorporated under the CAMA1990 as amended 2020. So, all our AGM is supposed to be governed by general members, those Companies who are corporate members of ANLCA. So is not a new thing as you rightly said, It is just the company owners that should come forward and participate in the AGM and the representatives of those companies ought to be Directors who must have had, this is the caveat, at least 10% of the shareholding of those companies and at least five years running and whose membership status must as well be five years with ANLCA. I hope that answers your question?
Besides the ANLCA Constitutional requirements, any other conditions or requirements for members who want to attend the AGM?
In my simple answer, a little while ago, I talked about Section (4) of our constitution, about membership. The other thing, very important is what should follow to register as a member of ANLCA.Any member of ANLCA under the same Section (4), Sub-section (3) Registration of members, states that for that purpose of Registration ” A member shall make an application in writing to the ANLCA Headquarters through his chapter within his area of an operation via Executive or Committee set up, shall recommend the applicant to the NECOM.The applicant is deemed fit and proper person to be admitted as a member. He shall be so admitted”. There are fees to be paid and the fee is N10,000, from members, which is the Annual Dues. So that qualifies you if you have a valid License and be up to date financially for you to attend the AGM.
“Registered Corporate members of ANLCA with valid Licenses should come forward and register for the AGM.”….Mukaila
So if this has been the criteria, what do you think is responsible for the hullabaloo created by the aggrieved faction about the AGM?
I wouldn’t know why?. Because if you are a member of ANLCA, it’s an automatic thing for you to attend the AGM as the Director of your company whose License is valid, and two who have paid their dues up to date.I want to believe anybody raising eyebrows, is it that they don’t have a license or they are not financially up to date as members of ANLCA? That will be my straightforward answer.
That brought us to the issue of License. We have been hearing that some people who were appointed by the aggrieved faction as NECOM in acting capacities don’t have licences. As the Scribe and custodian of ANLCA documents and data, how true is this?
Thank you for that your wonderful question. In a situation of crises all over the world, crises of war in that perspective, the first casualty is the truth and ANLCA is not an exception. There has been a lot of falsehood, and fake news and to put it in a very straight perspective, I believe some ANLCA members who have served either by errors of commission or omission at the highest level should know better and be conversant with their constitution. To answer your question, yes I believe Taiwo Mustapha who has consistently claimed to be whatever he says he is to be abreast with the provisions of the ANLCA Constitution. I will go straight to when Mustapha broke in here ( ANLCA National Secretariat) and said he has appointed interim NECOM.The constitution of ANLCA is very clear under Section ( 4), that members of ANLCA shall be limited by Corporate companies, notwithstanding Sub-section (1) and under Section ( 2). It went further to say that no company or firm shall be registered as a member of ANLCA if, Section ( 4), Subsection (2a) does not carry on business in the Shipping and Freight Forwarding (b) if not Licensed by Nigeria Customs. I see it as mischief or lack of knowledge on the part of Taiwo Mustapha to have violated the ANLCA constitution by appointing people who do not have corporate Company Licenses by the Customs to positions at the National level.So to confirm your allegation, I will run it down for you. Sometimes, I think it was 24th August 2022, Taiwo Mustapha came into ANLCA National Secretariat and appointed some people who are not owners of Corporate companies and who are not registered to carry out the business of Shipping and Freight Forwarding as enshrined in the ANLCA Constitution into positions of authority. I believe Taiwo Mustapha should have known better than to make such grievous mistakes and cause the confusion that we are all seeing now.Let me say anything I say to you, I will substantiate it. On that faithful day, one Pius Ujubuonu was appointed to the position of Acting National President, what Taiwo Mustapha called “Interim President”.I want to let you know with facts and figures that in the year 2012 when the data protocol of ANLCA was being perfected and as it was then, I was the ASECO Chairman.And Pius Ujubuonu came to me presenting a License for a corporate Company called MIRACLE VENTURES LTD.Yes, that License as of the year the data was being processed in 2013, did not exist.Pius Ujubuonu with ID card No WZ5100000083, the company did not exist.So in the last ten years, Pius Ujubuonu does not have a license .In the same vein, when you go to the Tin Can Island Chapter, where you have the list of corporate company members of ANLCA, you will find a company called DEJIDE INVESTMENT COMPANY LTD.The company has a gentleman called Jide as Director and principal officer, he employed Adeyinka Jamiu Ishola with staff ID card No WZ 2300000285.It will interest you to know that four years ago, Mr. Jide passed away and the License has remained moribund. This is the same person Taiwo Mustapha appointed as Acting National Vice President of ANLCA.He did not stop at that, just to cause more confusion in ANLCA, he went further to appoint another person to the position of Acting Financial Secretary of ANLCA.The gentleman who is equally a clerk of a company called OMO- BOY INTERNATIONAL, a company whose Director is one late Alabi.Taiwo Mustapha appointed Gbadamosi Waheed Badmus as Acting Financial Secretary of ANLCA. That makes three of them.Another impostor is one Francis Ozemede Itua, who was also appointed by Taiwo Mustapha as Acting National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA.Francis Itua is just a clerk with SEVEN86 IMPEX & ALLIED LIMITED.This Company has all its Directors to be Indians. So for Francis Itua to be issuing statements, calling himself, Acting NPS of ANLCA is not only dangerous but is criminal, full of mischiefs for him to be disclaimed so that the general public will know.
As you are planning for the AGM, what will be your message to your members?
My message is simple, we need to bend backward, we need to move forward, and ANLCA needs to breathe.All registered Corporate members of ANLCA with valid Licenses should come forward and register for the AGM.It is the right of all Corporate members of ANLCA.
