Elections: Interests threaten ANLCA’s unity

Ahead of next year’s national election into leadership positions of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), indications are rife that some principal officers of the association have started using their offices to work for their respective candidates, thereby threatening the association’s unity.

This is even as ANLCA’s National President, Olayiwola Shittu confirmed that he almost sacked his media aide after he was caught using his position to promote his preferred candidate.

According to findings, the statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the national president, Mr Joe Sanni after the recently concluded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State drew the ire of the association’s leadership that almost led to the sack of the media aide.

Disclosing this to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, the National President of the ANLCA, Olayiwola Shittu explained that he would have sacked Sanni immediately he saw the statement that was issued after the NEC meeting, but decided to exercise caution.

According to the ANLCA national president, “At our recently concluded NEC meeting, there was no time it was agreed there that the president should report to the board if a need to collaborate with any association arises. That was a mistake, whether intentionally or by error, by my senior special assistant on media. You know we are close to our elections. Maybe Sanni was working for some people, and opted to issue a statement saying that it was agreed at the NEC meeting that the president should report to the board of the association.

“What we agreed at the NEC meeting was that before ANLCA will go into any form of collaboration with any association in the future, the NEC should at least have an input as the highest organ of the association.”

When reminded that Mr Sanni’s statement stated that before ANLCA will henceforth go into any collaboration with any association in the future, the president must report to the NEC, Shittu replied that Sanni was playing games with the association’s statement.

“He is playing games with what he issued as statement and I almost sacked him for that. You know our elections are near. I would have removed him for that. He was not authorised to issue such a statement to the media.

“If not because I did not want to be seen to be too hard on issues like this, I would have removed him immediately I read the stories in the papers. He was not authorised at all,” the ANLCA president added.

Further findings also revealed that some other principal officers of the association who want  their loyalists to get into the association’s national offices have started using their offices to promote their candidates, thereby undermining the sanctity of their offices.

In the words of a chapter executive of the association who pleaded anonymity, “These kind of things are not uncommon in ANLCA. Whenever an election year is coming, people in privileged position use their offices to promote their candidates.”