Second in command of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto has apologised to the President of the association Hon Iju Tony Nwabunike and the entire executives over a letter he recently wrote to the World Customs Organisation (WCO) without the knowledge of the President and entire executive members.
Mr Farinto offered the unreserved apology during a briefing at the headquarters of ANLCA in Lagos on Wednesday.
He said : “I am not a proud person who will not say sorry when I am wrong. I have apologised to the President and NECOM, the National Executive Committee”
Speaking, ANLCA President, Iju Tony Nwabunike stated that the Vice President has apologised, saying he and the NECOM have accepted the apology.
“ANLCA is one big family, a mini-Nigeria, we have been around since 1954. Every part of the country is represented here, so it is not unexpected for us to have different perspectives, but it is necessary to harness all these perspectives for the benefit of the association.”There is no leadership crisis in ANLCA. We are one family and we are moving forward, ” he stressed.
It will be recalled that Mr Farinto had in a recent petition to WCO Secretary General dated August 3, 2020, listed what he described as anti trade facilitation policies of the Nigerian Customs Service and further called for the removal from office of the Controller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) for gross incompetence.
The letter which put the association on a coalition course with the Nigeria Customs Service had earned Mr Farinto a query from the the President.
In the query dated August 23, 2020, Mr Farinto was asked to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for writing a letter to WCO on behalf on ANLCA, without the authorisation of the President.
But the ANLCA Vice President in his response to the query dated August 27, 2020, said that he acted in the overall interest of the assocuation and further accused the President of having compromised his position to defend the interest of the members.
This development informed observers prediction that the foremost Nigerian Customs Brokers body was set to implode.
But those expectations were put to rest on Wednesday afternoon, with the ANLCA President and Mr Farinto, the National Secretaty, Mukaila Azeez and other national officers at the press conference assured that the executive is in intact.
They further dismissed a report in tne social media that members of the executive have been sacked by court judgement obtained in Lagos on August 20, 2020, saying they were yet to be served any of such court judgement.
Explaining, Nwabunike said that the two plaintiffs, Olumide Fakanlu and John Nwagbaraocha were ineligible to sue the association because they ceased to be members of ANLCA since 2018.
Nwabunike told journalists that the duo are not financial members of the association hence ineligible to sue the association or any of the members let alone sacking the executives.
