…As ANLCA refrain from endorsing a candidate
Ahead of the retirement of the outgoing Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi today, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has said that it has forwarded a list of three nominees to President Muhammadu Buhari for consideration as Dikko’s successor.
It will be recalled that Dikko had on the 3rd of August, 2015 notified the President of his intention to voluntarily retire from the service today so as to give room for the younger ones to take over from him and continue to improve on the achievements he had so far made, a request which had been approved by President Buhari since on the 14th of August, 2015.
Speaking in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos yesterday, the Founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam said that NAGAFF had given the President three names for consideration as possible candidates to fill the soon to be vacated office of the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service.
Aniebonam who was silent on the names of the three nominees so sent to the President for consideration however said that the three names so far sent to the President was not the only best people for the job but that the association pruned the list down to the first three adding that the one person who was so dear to the heart of the association was DCG Mera.
According to him,” I expect people like DCG Mera to come in, I also expect people like Atteh to come in, you know, these are people with integrity and all that. Well, I think I am just talking to as an individual, yes, there are people with integrity. You should know in the customs because we know them. I am not saying that that is the only people, people like Austin Wari… is a great man, he is an ACG, he is great. Dosunmu, the very much talked about Dosunmu, the great Public Relations man has been a great man in the customs and he knows how to look at people.
“You know, there are people, ACG Musa Tahir, these are the people, I call him the Diploma, these are people that can take decisions and stand by it without hurting you or make you feel that you are under abuse. There are people we can, Dangaladima, a Controller in Ondo State, these are people and now I have tried to move away from those two persons you are talking about.
“But definitely, NAGAFF has given Mr. President first three names, it won’t be right for us to mention their names. Since I have said so many, so you cannot choose anybody now but definitely, we have sent in three names. It may not be among the ones you have said. But one person you must know that is dear to the heart of NAGAFF is DCG Mera”, he concluded.
On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto in a chat with newsmen in Lagos disclosed that ANLCA was not interested in whoever emerged as the Comptroller-General of Customs adding that it was not the responsibility of the association to appoint or solicit for any candidate to be appointed the Comptroller-General of Customs.
Farinto said,” Supposing we are saying that candidate A be appointed and eventually, the Commander-in-Chief picks candidate B, would we not have created enmity with the man so appointed? We are now saying that a properly trained customs officer, once he is appointed, we believe that the authority that appointed him knows that this man is capable. That is what we are saying”.
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