By Innocent Orok
The Western Zone members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) have kicked against the time table for the chapter elections recently issued by the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO), even as they have urged the Board of Trustees (BOT) to extend the time table so as to allow for electioneering campaigns.
Our reporter gathered that the ASECO had on Monday 4th of November 2024, lifted embargo on electioneering campaigns and set Thursday 21 Nov, 2024 as date of elections into the Western Zone comprising of nine chapters.
Speaking at a meeting summoned by the Zonal Coordinator West of ANLCA, Alhaji Femi Anifowoshe, held in Apapa on Thursday, the concerned members of the association took turns to react to the election date, as well as other operational challenges facing their operations in the West.
Speaking on the election, Alhaji Ayo Sulaiman from PTML Chapter appealed to the BOT to extend the election timetable, since the ASECO according to constitution, takes orders directly from the BOT.
“For you to conduct elections of nine chapters, and seven officers who campaigned in their chapters to their members, they need time to campaign and present their manifestos. The timetable given is too short for this election.
“So, we should please pass this message to the BOT, they are our fathers, they have their mandates and prerogative, but they must temper justice with mercy.
Another member, Mr Ademola Makanjuola from Maxin Maritime, Apapa Chapter said that the BOT has the authority to supervise elections and that members are not trying to query that authority.
“We cannot query the authority, but appeal to the authority. What I am appealing for is that they should give us till February 2025 for the election to hold.
We are only pleading, if three months is too much, they can extend it for a month for us. That is the only thing we are asking for” he said
Also speaking, Otunba Babatunde Mukaila, the former National Secretary and immediate past Sole Administrator of ANLCA National Secretariat urged the BOT to be mindful of section 2 of the ANLCA supreme constitution and not deviate from provisions of the constitution.
“The fundamentals of this document, under section 2, says association is not by coercion, it is voluntary. So when we talk about authority, what does the constitution say about authority? It says, this constitution shall be inherently and adherently held supreme, and its provision shall be binding on all persons and authorities subject to this association.
“What that section has said is, irrespective of which authority you are or who you are, this constitutional provision shall be supreme. As we are closing this meeting, and we are suggesting by appealing or otherwise to the authority, the authority cannot overlook what is here. Let us appeal to the authorities to listen to what people have said.
“But they should be mindful of section 2 which says that no authority should have the rule of thumb to change what the constitution has said. My position has always been that let us abide by the provision of the constitution” Mukaila admonished the Board.
The ANLCA National Secretary, Elder Olumide Fakanlu observed that the BOT election which was conducted recently ,took two months of rigorous planning to achieve, implying that, conducting elections into nine chapters with about seven executives each, would be somewhat difficult under two weeks.
“The BOT election that was conducted took two months preparation. But, from the time table that was rolled out by ASECO, they are giving two weeks for elections into seventeen chapters, I don’t know how that would be done” he said
Another Western Zone member operating at PTML Chapter, Yemi Astrup said “We have been understanding with the BOT and we voted them into power, it is time for them to also help us, if they don’t go by the constitution, then we would not agree with the time table that was issued.
We have our own people to campaign to at the chapters”
From the Muritala Muhammed Int’l Airport, Mr Tope Akindele urged the BOT should be careful how they handle the chapter elections so as not to allow it snowball into another round of unending crisis.
“I want to tell the NECOM that, after the election is held, the executives would be handed over to the NECOM and not the BOT. If there is any rancour from this election, it is the NECOM that it would affect.
“This is not the first election, even Nigeria proposed election and it was shifted, what are we rushing for? They should give us more time for the atmosphere to be calm” Akindele stated.
The ANLCA members also took turns to express frustrations at the Tin Can Island Customs where vehicle clearance using the VIN valuation is deliberately being exploited by Customs officers.
While responding to the agitations of the members, Prince Segun Oduntan, Vice President of ANLCA who graced the meeting, said the concerns would be taken back to the BOT for consideration.
“In our position, we can only report back to the Board and say this is the position of our members in the West.
But, I know that in section 22 of our constitution, it says that a candidate standing for election shall have the following rights; The right to campaign, the right to ask for votes, the right to issue manifesto, to carry out all other things directed by the electorate.
“Because tomorrow, we don’t want anybody to say, ‘Oh they didn’t allow me to even say what I want to do for my members’, I think we will just report back to our BOT, let them look at this side. But, If they override us, there’s nothing we can do” the ANLCA Vice President stated.
Speaking with newsmen at the end of the meeting, Zonal Coordinator West, ANLCA, Femi Anifowoshe said the take-home from the meeting was the various operational challenges that members have complained about. He promised that the executives of the Zone would seat on it and act upon them.
“About the forthcoming elections, we shall communicate to the BOT, maybe to extend the time for us, after this, we shall get back to our people.
“It is not easy to have an election, they need to campaign and do so many other things. This is an association election and you would need to meet people that would vote for you so that you can be victorious.They voted for us NECOM, they voted for the BOT as well, now that it is their own chapter election, we would need to support them too, so that things can move very well.
“We don’t want any problem from the West again, the six years journey of crisis we have gone through in the past, we don’t want to embark on such journey again, we want to go to a clean sheet so that our people will be happy with us.
“On the issue of 846, we shall speak with Area Controllers of Commands, so that they can help our people, the year is running to an end and a lot of demurrage are counting on vehicles, especially the RoRo vehicles” Anifowoshe assured.
