… Explains why he is yet to return his official vehicles
As the uncertainty surrounding the October 9, 2021 date for the election of the freight forwarders into the Governing Council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) continues, the immediate past Chairman of the CRFFN Governing Council, Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni has accused the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, the CRFFN Registrar, and the leadership of the five accredited freight forwarding associations of politicizing the planned election.
Speaking in a telephone interview with Primetime Reporters yesterday evening, Tsanni said that the trio didn’t want the election to take place because they wanted to appropriate the proceeds of the Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) to themselves.
He added that the Permanent Secretary and the Registrar didn’t want the Governing Council to come in hence they were creating room for the accredited freight forwarding associations to come up with the 6:6:1:1:1 knowing full well that other people would go to Court if the sharing formula is adopted adding that if they go to Court, definitely, the election would not take place.
According to him, “We have been re-appointed for the past one year and the Registrar is putting up all effort to blackmail our inauguration and there is no way we can be inaugurated without completing the process. This is one year now that I have been re-appointed.
“So, definitely, they will not allow the election to take place provided they politicize it. Almost 30 people have bought form, then, they will come in with new guidelines which is entirely different from what they have done. If the Perm. Sec. knows that she did not agree with the initial guideline, why did she allow it to be published? People have wasted their money and they have made it that the money is not refundable. So, what do they want? They are just politicizing the election so that it will not take place. So, this is very clear.”
He maintained that they should allow the initial process laid down to continue by allowing everybody who bought form to contest in the election even as he stated that “there is every indication that they want to take the election down to Lagos so that they can maneuver their way.”
“Lagos is not the centre. People that are coming from Port-Harcourt, those who are coming from Lagos, those from Airport and land borders, Abuja is central for them. Why Lagos? Just because they want some other people, some Presidents of the associations, they want to send them out because of their selfish interest. Just because of this POF collection and nothing more than that and if the Perm. Sec. did not accept all these things; all these things would not have taken place.
“So, she is politicizing the election and I don’t see anything wrong if you quote me that I said that she is politicizing the election. She can call me and I can defend it anywhere.
“I want the whole world to know why the election is not taking place. It is just because they have started the POF collection, so, they want to corner it alone for themselves. That is why they are politicizing the election so that there will be no Governing Council in place to checkmate them”, he stated.
On why he is yet to return the official vehicles back to CRFFN more than one year after leaving office, he said, “Yes, I am still enjoying the vehicles because I have been re-appointed immediately. If I have not been re-appointed, I would have dropped their vehicles. And they should ask the people who were there when I came in as a CRFFN Council member initially; I came in with a brand new Hilux and a brand new Jeep, even with my escort. They met me with all these. So, I did not come to CRFFN as a poor person and I am still having them. I am not using their vehicles; I don’t need it for anything. This is very clear.
“I still maintain the vehicles because I have been re-appointed immediately, so, if I have been re-appointed, why should I return the vehicles.”
Meanwhile, attempts to get the reaction of the Registrar, CRFFN, Barr. Samuel Nwakohu were unsuccessful as he could not pick up calls placed on his phone as at press time. However, this medium promises to publish his version anytime he is available for response.
Photo: Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni, immediate past Chairman, Governing Council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
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