…Says I am available for collaboration
The immediate past National Secretary of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN), Mr. Chidi Anthony Opara has told the Secretary, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the association, Mr. Innocent Elum to stop wasting his time alongside others on his matter as he is no longer a member of the association.
It would be recalled that Opara had about three weeks ago tendered his resignation both as the National Secretary of the association and as a member of the association, a development which came to the industry watchers as a surprise going by his closeness to the National President of the association, Alhaji Bala Lawan Daura.
Our correspondent gathered that Opara was invited by the three-man Board of Trustees of AREFFN to ascertain the circumstances leading to his resignation and subsequently withdrawing his membership of the association, an invitation Opara declined to honour hence the communication above.
In a statement obtained from Mr. Opara by our correspondent on Wednesday, he told Elum that they should by now be talking of refund of his out of pocket expenses.
He said, “Apart from convention, which laws stipulate that a person’s resignation is not valid until accepted more so, when the person resigning is not in possession of the organization’s property?
“Even if he/she is in possession of the organization’s property, the only thing to be done would be to report him/her to the police and/or file a civil suit in court.
“I hereby advise you and your cohorts to stop wasting your time on my matter as I am no longer a member of your organization. We should by now be talking of refund of my out of pocket expenses.
“If you and your cohorts however insist on flogging a dead horse, you can go ahead but count me out of such unproductive venture.
“This will be my last on this subject.”
Meanwhile, our correspondent has equally received a memo dated 3rd March, 2020 addressed to the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the association by the then National Secretary, Mr. Chidi Anthony Opara where he complained about the inability of the Board to act on an earlier memo he addressed to them with the title, “Frank Ukor’s Peddling of Hate on AREFFN WhatsApp Platform” and dated 5th February, 2019.
The memo reads, “It is surprising and sad that my above referenced Memorandum, as serious as the subject matter is and which was duly received have not been acted upon.
“This action portrays the Board of Trustees as comfortable with the said action of its member, Chief Frank Ukor.
“Please be reminded that Frank Ukor’s referenced action runs against the objectives of our association and the Board of Trustees (BoT) continued non action on it makes the BoT an accomplice.”
In another development, the former National Secretary of AREFFN, Mr. Chidi Anthony Opara has said that he is available for collaboration in any capacity both within and outside the maritime industry.
Opara who made this known when he released he biography to our correspondent recently described himself as an Independent Information Management Consultant with bias in Information on freight forwarding procedures in Nigeria.
A registered freight forwarder, Professional Fellow of the Institute of Information Management, Africa (IIM), an Online Publisher (www.publicinformationprojects.org) and a Poet.
Chidi Anthony Opara is a former member, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN)’s Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum (FFCF), former National Secretary, Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN) and a former Press Relations Officer, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agent (ANLCA).
He is a recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award from the Maritime Watch Newspaper, listed in BLERF Foundation’s Who is Who in Nigeria as well as listed in Europa’s Who is Who.
Photo: The immediate past National Secretary, AREFFN, Mr. Chidi Anthony Opara.
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