ANLCA BOT Get CAC Registration, Seek Fresh Six Year Tenure

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  This is the joke of the century – ANLCA National Secretary

By Kenneth Jukpor

After regularizing its registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) anticipation of another six years to stay in office has been ridiculed by the executives of ANLCA.

The board members whose six year tenure elapsed on Friday last week, asserted that its failure to register the names of five out of its nine members meant that its administration couldn’t be deemed to have started before the penultimate week.

Briefing newsmen after a meeting and elections conducted at the ANLCA Secretariat in Lagos, Newly elected Chairman of the BOT, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha confirmed that the registration of the board have now been regularized.

He also revealed that the ANLCA failed to pay the annual dues to the CAC since 2001, noting that the board had taken up the challenge to clear the dues at CAC.

The BOT members at the meeting were; Chief Dennis Okafor, Dayo Azeez, Taiwo Mustapha, Earnest Elochukwu and Taiye Oyeniyi, while Henry Njoku, Aare Sanni Shittu and Peter Obi were absent.

Mustapha explained that the meeting was to hold a fresh election to determine chairman and officers of the board.

“We held another election today and I have been returned as the Chairman of the board , Chief Dennis have been returned as the Vice Chairman and Prince Taiye Oyeniyi have been returned as the secretary of ANLCA board. In order to avoid any misgivings because anybody can say the tenure of the board should probably end on the 13th of this month, because that was when we held the election in 2014″

“The election supposed to end this year, because it’s a tenure of six years, but in the eyes of the law legally speaking and based on that court judgement that says we are not yet board members until we are registered in the corporate affairs, so as far as we are concerned, that tenure is just starting on the 16th of January for another six years. So we take it that on the 16th of January that is when we became the board members of ANLCA” he said

Meanwhile in a swift reaction, the National Secretary of ANLCA, Alhaji Bababtunde Abdulazeez Mukalia described the ploy to stay for another six years as the joke of the century.

“My understanding is that we had board elected by ANLCA members to serve for six good years. If they had an internal crisis and didn’t complete their CAC registration until ten days to the expiration of their tenure, it is documented that they have served as the board.”

“Therefore, we have had a board in the last six years. It would be the joke of the century if a board that was elected by over six hundred companies at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) is being upturned by few people. Prince Taiye Oyeniyi has run for the second tenure at the board and there is no room for a third time. The same thing applies to Chief Henry Njoku, Aare Sani Shittu and Peter Obi. However, the other members of the board have a right to a second stint as members of the board if the electorate decides” Mukalia said.

On the BOT meeting which held last week, the ANLCA National Secretary displayed the letter written by the BOT Secretary, Oyeniyi which called for a meeting and demanded the presence of the National President. However, the letter didn’t outline any agenda.

According to him, the board would now proceed to spend another six years in office, since the courts have declared its first six years non and void due to its lack of registration.

Mustapha had earlier acknowledged that the tenure of the board should end on 13th of February 2020 as this was the date they were elected in 2014, however, he argued that based on the court judgement, the tenure of the BOT started on the 16th of January for another six years.

Meanwhile, Chief Henry Njoku has already taken a bow as he sent a congratulatory message to the executive leadership of ANLCA and members of the association where he thanked them for the opportunity to have served on the board for two tenures.