…Congratulates ANLCA over successful election
…Sue for enduring peace
The Chairman, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Tincan 2 Lillypond chapter, Mr. Olufemi Abiodun Olabanji has praised the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Mr. Adewale Bashir Adeniyi for the role he played in restoring lasting peace in ANLCA leading to a successful election last week.
Olabanji who eulogized the Comptroller General in an exclusive chat with Primetime Reporters in his office in Lagos on Monday said that but for his intervention through the Customs Consultative committee, CCC, ANLCA would have remained in trenches initiating one court action after another.
He noted that while every other efforts made by different organizations and individuals including the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN to bring back peace in ANLCA failed, God used the Acting Comptroller General of Customs who is barely three months in office to achieve the milestone.
He said, “I want to thank the CG of Customs for facilitating peace in ANLCA. He is a man I want to praise, I thank him and I thank all the members of the Customs Consultative Committee who sacrificed their time to bring peace to ANLCA. God will give him and his family peace and where he is working as the head of the customs, God will give him peace and direction.
“This man has done a peaceful thing in the life of all the licensed customs agents. I really thank him for a job well done. I am thanking him because he mobilized the committee. The peace that we have today in ANLCA is courtesy of him. He has done a job that made everybody happy because we have been facing serious problem in our association before his intervention.
“I also thank the ANLCA BoT Chairman, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha and the Vice Chairman of ANLCA BoT, Chief Ozo Chukwura for seeing through the process and I thank everybody that contributed to the success of the election. I thank Chairman of the Customs Consultative Committee, Aare Hakeem Olanrewaju and the Secretary, Dr. Eugene Nweke and every other members of the Customs Consultative Committee because today, ANLCA is a peaceful association. Things have come to normal in ANLCA and I believe we will never walk that road again.”
He, however, admonished those who contested the election and lost not to lose hope and see themselves as failure noting that in every election, someone has to emerge the winner because everybody cannot win at the same time.
“I am begging my colleagues not think that they lost because nobody lose in this election, we just achieved peace. I thank Dr. Kayode Farinto, our immediate past Vice President as well for his display of sportsmanship. I appreciate him for the good foundation he had laid in ANLCA He should not see himself as a failure because he has not failed. This is a process, everybody would do his bit and go.
“Four years is tomorrow, Dr. Farinto can still go for election to become President which I believe is possible. I can also become President tomorrow. So, if all of us should come together and support this newly elected NECOM, there will be progress and positive development in our association. Very soon, four years will elapse and another person will emerge as President of ANLCA”, he added.
While describing the election as open and transparent such that anyone who emerged victorious in the election did so by the grace of God, he said, “in the end, we all won, nobody lose the election. He therefore, urged those who emerged victorious in the election to be magnanimous in victory and carry everyone along for the growth and development of the association.
“When I looked back to recall what we have lost in the past years because we were not united, it sent shivers down my spine. Farinto has done a good job, he has tried and I appreciate him for a job well done. Going forward, we should not give room for anybody to break us again. We should not take ourselves as enemies to ourselves. The communal spirit that once existed among us such that we will always branch off to our Secretariat at the close of work everyday to relax and make merry should return once again.
“The Zonal Coordinator, Western Zone, Femi Anifowose should be able to accommodate everyone, he should not discriminate among members. He is now the Zonal Coordinator, he should take everybody as his own. He should be able to see all the chapters in the Western Zone as his Constituency. While the President presides over everyone, he oversees the Western Zone, so, he should make sure that he doesn’t discriminate. He should give room for peace and make everyone his friend”, he concluded.
It will be recalled that ANLCA, on September 7, 2023 held its National Executive Committee, NECOM election at the prestigious Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos where a former National Vice President of the association, Mr. Emenike Nwokeoji polled a total of 33 vote to defeat the immediate past Acting National President, Dr. Kayode Farinto who polled a total of 23 votes to emerge the National President of ANLCA bringing the over five years leadership crisis in the association to an end. The newly elected NECOM has already been sworn into office.
Photo: Mr. Olufemi Abiodun Olabanji,. Chairman, ANLCA, Tincan 2 Lillypond chapter.
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