In reaction to story making rounds by some online medium that Court has strike out fake affidavit filed by NECOM of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), the National Vice President of the association, Dr Kayode Farinto has described it as false and mischievous act by the publishers.
He described the stories as unprofessional and imagination of the writers fiction and that of their sponsors.
Addressing news men on Wednesday in Apapa, Dr Farinto said, “You all recollect that ANLCA had its NEC meeting last week and an incident sprang up as two of our members took us to Badagry court to argue that we had a kangaroo election and we didn’t recognize them.
“The issue has been on for a while and the judge was trying to rule on representation to know the actual lawyers and solicitors representing ANLCA. The issue is that Taiye Oyeniyi gave a lawyer a letter, while the other board of Trustees gave some other lawyer a letter which we have recognized as the genuine lawyer.
” This issue has been on for quite some time and the judge said that he was going to rule on that on ( Monday 28th June 2021), but he was unable to rule despite the legal gymnastics. So, it saddened me to read on some online platforms that the judge ruled that we submitted fake documents. It is very disheartening and there is a need for us to put the records straight.
” There was never a time when the judge said that ANLCA election was illegal and there was never a time where the judge said that we submitted fake documents.
We will ask our lawyers to write to the publishers of those publications to find out the source of that information and if he is unable to prove it, we may resort to a libel suit.
“Few weeks ago, we urged the press to always seek to verify news sources from the ANLCA President. We are beginning to have credibility issues among journalists in this sector, even though we know that there are many upright ones. We really need to address the issue and make Nigerians know that such development never happened or it was just the imagination of the writer. If he is unable to expatiate on this issue, then we are going to meet in court because we are going to sue him for libel.
The judge is going to rule on this issue of representation on August 3rd and as soon as that is done, we will make the judgment available to the press because it isn’t a secret.” Dr Farinto said.
Speaking on the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that took place recently, Farinto said “the other issue for this press conference is to thank you for your participation in the recent NEC meeting where some of the members who refused to obey the law got expelled.
” The executives attempted to use diplomatic approaches to resolve the issues, but the concerned ANLCA members refused such opportunities. The ANLCA Constitution is sacrosanct and they faxed the Disciplinary Committee which I happen to be the Chairman. My recommendation was that they be suspended thinking that they would have an opportunity to repent and apologize.
“Nevertheless, the NEC agreed that in view of the anti-association activities which has digressed to the extent that the National President was attacked, his phone stolen and monies collected from his account. I slept in the Police cell for allegations I knew nothing about, and many other excesses because we have visited over 10 Police stations from these expelled ANLCA members. It was the extent of the havoc caused by these people that informed the decision of the NEC to expel them, rather than suspension.
” Since the NEC meeting held, this is the first press conference and we are reiterating that they are expelled. We are officially telling the public that anyone dealing with these people (the Managing Director of Green Star Nigeria Limited, Mr. Temitope Akindele, the Managing Director of Multimodal Logistics Limited, Mr. Abdulmaza Joe-Sanni, the Managing Director of MarkMary Nigeria Limited, Prince Taiye Oyeniyi, Managing Director of Pyramid Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha, Managing Director of Nestilo Global Services, Sir Ernest Elochukwu, Managing Director of Salem International Nigeria Limited, Sir John Oforbike and the Managing Director of Bayle Limited, Alhaji Bayo Oyekangun) on behalf of ANLCA are doing so at their own peril. Only the National President can convey a NEC meeting that can reconsider the membership of these expelled members with stringent measures.”
“The, ANLCA NEC comprises of the National Executive Council ( NECOM) , the President and his national executives, all the chapter executives and national committees. So, it is the NEC that expelled these members.
We have seen alleged board members administering oath of office to chapter executives which isn’t recognized in the ANLCA Constitution and can be treated as a criminal offence.
” The President has made several attempts to resolve this problem and even set up a committee which had their representatives as members, but all diplomatic efforts failed and people who claim to want peace wouldn’t be dragging us to police stations or instituting numerous court cases against us.” Farinto said.
Meanwhile, the ANLCA chieftain has also lambasted the Nigeria Customs Service Management for failing to address and collaborate with Customs brokers and other stakeholders as ascribed by the WCO. He said the present management of the Service has failed as such government is losing cargoes and revenue to other African countries.
He express the fears that up till now the Nigeria Customs has not made any policy statement on the African Continental Free Trade Area ( AfCFTA),a situation he said may turn Nigeria into a dumping ground by other African Countries.