President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, Hon Tony Iju Nwabunike, has been warned of the dire consequences should he go ahead with his plot to elongate his 4 year tenure by 365 days . Tony Iju Nwabunike was sworn in on April 14, 2020 for a 4year tenure as President of ANLCA. But at a joint Exclusive Interview last week in Port Harcourt ,the three WISEMEN insisted that Tony Iju’s tenure would expire in April this year. The trio lead by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha , Chairman BoT, Chief Ernest Elochukwu,a former President of ANLCA and Chief Emenike Nwokeoji an immediate past Vice President of ANLCA, have dared the Tony Iju led NECO not to extend their tenure beyond April this year.
The Tony Iju led NECON is relying on the resolution of a General Meeting of the Association held on December 16, 2020 in Owerri, Imo State where the ammendment to the constitution was effected. Said Taiwo Mustapha: “In the eye of the law and our extant Constitution, the purported General Meeting of the Association held on December 16, 2020 where the said resolution was reached is a nullity and has no place in our statue books. Even if the meeting was properly constituted , how could we explain a situation where an incumbent President would preside over a meeting than would elongate his tenure? This is huge question mark on the democratic ethos which previous administrations have built on”.
In his own contribution, Chief Ernest Elochukwu traced the genesis of the crisis to those who adopt the seat tight syndrome once they occupy a public office. He said: “For me this is simply because people want to covert a public office to their personal property. This crisis emanated when we tried to change the leadership of the BoT.
The move was resisted by a minority who lost out at that election. If we are not careful, this might consume our Association if the main actors do not retrace their steps . ” To make matters worse, they have disobeyed the various court orders which are in our favour. But what is happening is the Nigerian factor where court orders are disobeyed with impunity”, he said .
Also in lending his voice to the argument raised by Taiwo Mustapha, Chief Emenike explained that it was laughable to see Tony Iju Nwabunike wanting to benefit from a constitutional amendment initiated by himself ostensibly to extend his 4 year mandate
It is sad enough that Tony Iju Nwabunike has come to destroy the modest legacies of the Prince Olayiwola Shittu led administration . But Taiwo Mustapha warned that ‘ a shocker awaits them if they go ahead with their plan to put a death knell on this great Association. We are not unmindful of comments made by Tony Iju that he would be the last President of ANLCA. But we will shock him , we wont tell you our next line of action “, Taiwo boasted