The Commissioner of Police, Ports Authority Police Command (PAP), will today meet with the President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Tony Iju Nwabunike, the National Secretary, Alhaji Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila on one side and the factional Board of Trustees (BoT) led by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha and the embattled Chairman of the Tincan Island chapter of the association, Prince Segun Oduntan on the other side to continue discussions on the alleged constitutional breach by a faction of the BoT.
It will be recalled that a fortnight ago, the CP invited the two factions over a letter purportedly written by the BoT faction led by Alhaji Mustapha extending the tenure of the former Chairman of the Tincan Island chapter of the association, Prince Segun Oduntan whose tenure of office has expired, a development which was faulted by the National Secretary of the association, Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila who declare the move illegal and unconstitutional.
The Police however, had to postpone the meeting till today following the inability of the president, Tony Iju Nwabunike to attend the meeting on the previous date.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos on the genesis of the meeting with the CP, Alhaji Mukaila noted that there was a correspondence received by national headquarters and addressed to the Police where the Chairman of Tincan chapter claimed he had gotten a letter from the Board extending his tenure.
He further explained,” There are chapters in the western zone who in their believe and for whatever reason decided to disown their president, that is the genesis of the whole issue, went on the pages of national newspapers and disown the president who is the Chief Executive Officer of this association, who is the Chairman of the National Executive Council, the supreme organ of this association. They took that step and were severely punished because of that by NEC.
“As soon as they were suspended, they approached the court to secure a restraining order from applying that suspension on them, that case is ongoing. In the interregnum, the tenure of the last three of the Chairmen that were involved in this expired and once that is done, you must be honourable to vacate your seat. Idiroko, Ikorodu and Tincan chapters, their tenure expired same day and promptly, Ikorodu Chairman signified that his tenure has expired and thanked that association for giving the exco the opportunity, Idiroko did the same thing. In Tincan, they were six exco, three of them congratulated themselves and said that there were available for future services to the association. However, the Chairman claimed he had gotten a letter from the Board extending his tenure.
“So, I got that letter addressed to me and I was in a copy and the Police was also in a copy. So, I replied the same letter, thanking the man and advising him that the blood of anyone is not good for him to partake in shedding, that he should be honourable to leave his seat as three of his members have done. And then I wrote the Police citing the provision of the constitution, informing them that the Board has no right to extend anyone’s tenure. The only person that has the right to extend tenure is the President with reference to NEC ratification. That if the man decides to go through this means, then it is unconstitutional and I advised the Police to do whatever they can to avoid breakdown of law and order.
“And the Police, on the strength of my letter, invited myself and the President and invited the Board to come for a meeting. Surprisingly, when we got there, we went there based on the fact that it was a limited invitation to just the president and the secretary, but on getting there, we met more than fifty people waiting. The embattled Chairman, the Board that extended the tenure so to say and then we made it very clear to the Police, this is the constitution, no one can extend anyone’s tenure unless President. That was the essence of the meeting.
“However, the Police adjourned the meeting till Wednesday 7th August, 2019 because the President was unavoidably absent. They want to hear from the president which way forward. So we will be there on the 7th to discuss further how to resolve this because it is a constitutional matter.”
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