Chief Peter Obih, a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), has said that the ongoing heat up in the association is  not between Chief Henry Njoku and Alhaji  Taiwo Mustapha, but can only be atributed to  what he called    truth and falsehood .

Obih who  said he is currently  the Secretary  to the ANLCA  BOT  board also   pointed  accusing  fingers  to the immediate  past president of the association  as may be fueling  the crisis  due to  his silence  on the  issue.

Chief Obi who disclosed this during a chat with newsmen on Tuesday in  Lagos, alleged that the crisis brewing in the association would be linked to the immediate past president  of the association, Prince Olayiwola Shittu.

Recall that there has been a running battle between Chief Henry Njoku and Taiwo Mustapha over board  chairmanship position of the association.l

Chief  Obi who  doubles as the BOT chairman , International Freight Forwarders Association (IFFA) stressed that Chief Henry Njokwu is bona-fide  board chairman recognised by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) .

Obih further raised alarm that the ANLCA board of trustees  has been hijacked by some money bags,who are loyalist to the immediate past president of the foremost licensed customs agents group.

He alleged that Prince Shittu was engineering the crisis to remain relevant in the sector and the association ,in a bid  to  impose his anointed candidate to succeed him, but  failed at the last presidential election conducted in Enugu in March 2018.

The  IFFA board chairman  alleged that Shittu allowed some members who are not qualified or known in the history of the association to come into the BOT.

Obih lamented that”I trace the issue back to the past administration, a house built on a weak foundation will definitely collapse. There are things that the outgone president did that shouldn’t have been, the consequences of what they did back then is what we are suffering now”

“Since 1954 when ANLCA was registered, there has never been a time we had the membership of the board through election and buying of forms, we usually nominate people meritoriously, and at the NEC meeting, we would cast votes for them.

” But this time around, the last administration threw it open and ask people to pay N500,000 , this is how the money bags came into the board,  it’s not that they deserve to be on the board.

“Somebody who have never served in any capacity in ANLCA suddenly found himself in the board and he wants to be chairman, can you enter the Senate today and want to be the President?”

After the board elections in 2013, Obi said that Prince Shittu who was president at that time, ought to have approached the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to register the names of the new board,  but it has not been done up till now, there supposed to have been a new certificate showing the new members.

Obih accused Mustapha and his group of not allowing the ANLCA President’s earlier appeal for ninety days grace period to elapse because announcing Mustapha as authentic chairman of the board

“There was an intervention from the National President at a meeting that held at the Santiago Hotel in Festac Town on 10th of May. The president pleaded for three months grace but to my surprise, on 13th of July, some people came up and said they are taking the mantle of leadership in the board. It is not yet ninety days,  but sixty days”

On a possible injuction to interpret the association constitution,the BOT member said he has instituted a court case on the matter seeking court declaration and clarification.

He said that Mustapha bought his way into ANLCA and that prior to the election, he was not known in ANLCA and not fit to be a board members not to talk of being the chairman.

“I am suspecting that the past president of this association knows what is happening, rumor has it that he is the one engineering the crisis because the person he was fronting did not win”

“He is gone but he wants to put in somebody to continue his bidding”

Though Obih  rated Shittu’s performance in office high,  but  noted that the ex president committed a major blunder by selling forms to candidates  for N500,000 and contest election into ANLCA BOT.

Speaking further,he added that”Shittu tried in office,  but this idea of perpetrating yourself in office by putting your own person there is not right”

“During Shittu’s administration,  one tribe took over the whole chapter, leaving only one, MMIA chapter, how can you be cheating somebody and you expect him to keep quiet” .he said.