ANLCA is under siege by IFFA, NAGAFF linked members, unlicensed persons

By Joe Sanni                          

Information reaching me last evening shows that an emergency National Executive Council (ENEC) hurriedly put together by the National Vice President and National Secretary, in active cooperation with the National President and his PSO, has been used to commit a constitutional travesty.

The so called ENEC, dominated by appointees of the President, most without operational and current Customs licenses, sat in judgment over duly elected officials of NECOM, Western Zone officers and chapters, without as much exploring due process or due diligence. Sounds like primitive desperation in a purely democratic set up.

Fact is, those that sat in judgment over especially the NECOM and Zonal officers have no constitutional right to do so. Under the emergency powers of the President – Section 30, he is only limited to taking actions against chapters executives and he must report such actions in writing to the Board of Trustees for approval or reviews.

In the Supreme constitution of ANLCA, there are established procedures to discipline those who erred against the spirit and letters of the constitution, which must be set out in writing, discussed by appropriate organs of administration, referred to the disciplinary committee, adjudicated upon and verdict returned for appropriate action. After all of this is done, if the accused is not satisfied, he/she appeals to NEC for a review.  SECTION 24, Subsection 2 & 3, states:

“(2) A person subject to this constitution shall not be punished by the association unless in accordance with this constitution. (3) No person shall be discipline. Punished or made to suffer in the association except in accordance with this constitution, therefore where a member or its servant or representative contravenes any rule, order, regulation or law of the association, the association shall cause the member to be heard by the disciplinary committee through its servant or representative.”

Appointing administrators to Western Zone chapters (except MMI Airport) amounts to legitimizing injustice, where you act as the accuser, prosecutor and the judge all rolled into one. This definitely is a miscarriage of justice and it cannot stand an integrity and morality test. It is purely political brigandage. So, what is the offence of those who picked up nomination forms to contest offices in Western Zone, and now being deprived of the opportunity to stand elections, by appointing some other co-contestants as administrators?

MEMBERSHIP OF NEC – Section 5 subestion 2

“(2)    No person shall be a member of the Council if he is not elected or appointed in accordance with this constitution and has subscribed to the oath of office/Allegiance prescribed in section 31 of this constitution.”

OATH OF OFFICE/ALLEGIANCE – Section 31

“I shall not by virtue of my position as the………………………………………………….. (State the position) of the Association intimidate, victimize or oppress any member of the Association. I shall defend, protect the image, name, fame and reputation of the /association. I shall also bear true allegiance to the Association, bring glory to the Association and direct my actions to the fulfillment of the aims and objectives of the Association. “

Attending NEC meeting is not by force constitutionally, but by the force of persuasion. Nothing in these oaths has been violated by any of the so-called suspended officials, who were elected by electorates, and deserve to be treated decently and according to provisions of our constitution.

Simply put: The non-recognition of the majority BOT members by the National President, preferring to stick with the minority publicly, is the genesis of the crisis in ANLCA. And, until this injustice is removed/addressed, there is no resting place for Tony and Henry.

The duo of Henry and Tony are deliberately out to cause maximum damage to ANLCA, especially in Western Zone.

Both of them have decided to stand truth and logic on its head. They have also decided to destroy ANLCA by allowing non-members (IFFA & NAGAFF-Linked) to infiltrate ANLCA, by appointing some of them. This is unheard of anywhere in the world, where you allow strangers to intentionally take over your home.

Late popular musician – Fela Anikulapo-Kuti once sang; “When trouble sleep, yanga go wake am, wetin he dey fiiiinnnddd for Lagosiooo? Palaver he dey find, palaver he go getiooo!!”

For Tony not to recognize that 5 is greater than 3, was his greatest undoing, stretched to the fact that he tactlessly endorsed 3 as greater than 5 publicly, without retracting such statement and, even asking all BOT members to come to Abuja to re-conduct the BOT chairmanship elections in his presence, shows he knows nothing about democracy and political leadership.

Tony just lacks the capacity to lead an Association as great as ANLCA of a little less than 2000 corporate members. What will then happen if saddled with bigger responsibilities? Your guess is as good as mine.

For now, I am restricting myself to re-laying the facts bare, as I have earlier done, before zeroing in on the persons that are taking the greater members of ANLCA for a ride. Could Tony in all sincerity (I wonder if he is ever) swear that no elections took place in the BOT, from where he stepped out to be elected as NP?

Even if he answers is in the negative, does he think that the 5 men of character and means, who elected one of them as the BOT chairman, in the person of Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha, are dummies, who do not have brains?

Has Tony asked himself that of the 5, why has none of them changed his position since April 13, 2018 and that they all are fixated in that position, even if the election has to be conducted over and over again?

What is really so difficult in accepting this real fact? Why is Tony so protective of Henry? Do they have something to hide from the rest of us?

Anyway, the illegality perpetrated at Abuja on Monday the 17^th of December 2018, can never legalize the injustice of 3 greater than 5. This truth must also be told to the public. No amount of cover up using the tenureship of the board of 6 years can be equated to a non-constitutional carving out of offices, strictly for the Board’s administrative convenience purposes. The claim by Henry that he still has a little over a year to go as chairman of BOT is false. What is correct and constitutional is the tenure of 6 years, which expires on February 12, 2020, having been elected to the BOT on 13^th February 2014 in Warri.

Simpliciter, his tenure as chairman of the BOT, as agreed upon by his co-board members expired late 2016. Since then, it has been one issue or the other, which misled his colleagues on the Board to keep accommodating him, until the 13^th of April 2018 when 5 voted to have Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha as the chairman, Chief Dennis Okafor as Vice Chairman and Prince Taye Oyeniyi as the Secretary of the BOT. The so called division in the BOT were sustained until recently that the Western Zone members met to affirm their support for Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha as the recognized and authentic Chairman of BOT.

Until now that the 5 stepped out to assume the proper headship of the BOT, the elections in the West has been hanging in the balance, since the electoral body of ANLCA – which is ASECO is supposed to constitutionally be monitored/supervised by the BOT.

Before now, all monies collected from sale of forms are deposited in BOT account. But, with the crisis of confidence in the Board, ASECO was left to float, not knowing where to pay the large sum generated, which amounted to eleven million, five hundred and fifty thousand naira, into. This amount in drafts, NECOM convinced ASECO to deposit it in their (NECOM’s) account, so that funds to hold the elections can be drawn and made available to conduct the Western zone chapters elections, not knowing that two of NECOM members plus two appointees had a different plan – to superintend over the funds and cancel the elections into Western Zone chapters, and appoint those they had earlier collected huge sums of money to install them as chairmen in PTML, KLT and Seme Border chapters. Very mischievous and annoying.

These NECOM fellows with their appointed collaborators have also gotten several licenses – almost all are non-functional in all the Western Zone – collected N25,000 each from as many as 890 expected voters, moving from IFFA, NAGAFF and some other independents. Now, do the math and you begin to wonder how those that are elected to manage the affairs of ANLCA and its members can be so heartless, that an election meant to be peacefully conducted has been mindlessly shoved aside to pave way for the jamboree that took place in Abuja – in the name of ENEC.

Those who make justifiable, justiciable and peaceful change impossible, makes violent change extremely possible and justifiable.

Let it be known that no pronouncement emanating from the unconstitutional ENEC in Abuja will be respected and will definitely be unacceptable.

All elected members of ANLCA cannot be suspended without following the constitution. And until that is done, no amount of grandstanding by infiltrators into ANLCA can shake a hair of those purportedly suspended.

The battle line surely has been drawn between the truth and lies, between light and darkness, and between the real ANLCA and pretenders in ANLCA.

Adumaza Joe Sanni is the National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA

December 18, 2018 @ 0320 hours.

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