ANLCA Urges IGP, Judiciary to Stay Neutral in MMIA Leadership Crisis

BY EGUONO ODJEGBA

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Nigeria’s oldest and most influential body of customs brokers, has issued a strong appeal to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Ridwan Disu and the leadership of the Nigerian judiciary, urging them to resist partisan pressures and maintain neutrality in the ongoing leadership tussle at its Muritala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Chapter.

Above is coming on the backdrop of leaked plot to return a former Chairman of MMIA Chapter, Bamgbala Adewusi to office, via official subterfuge. In a protest letter dated June 4, 2026, ANLCA’s National Executive Committee (NECOM) warned against what it described as “dubious interference” by certain police officers and “procured rulings” from compromised judges, which have fueled one of the most intractable insider crises in the association’s history.

At the heart of the dispute are three contenders: Bamgbala Adewusi, Balogun Ashiru, and Tope Akindele, each laying claim to the MMIA chairmanship. While NECOM and the Board of Trustees (BoT), acting on the association’s constitution, have formally inaugurated Akindele as the rightful chairman, Adewusi has allegedly leveraged police protection and questionable judicial pronouncements to continue to seek dubious avenues to assert authority, and to return to office through the back door.

The controversy deepened when a Lagos High Court, in what ANLCA describes as a “notorious pattern of contradictory rulings,” granted separate judicial victories to different contenders on the same matter. Most recently, Adewusi secured an order dated June 1, 2026, directing the police to provide him access to the MMIA secretariat.

However, ANLCA’s letter to the IGP, sighted by our reporter highlights that the judgment underpinning this order has already been appealed, with a motion for stay of execution duly filed. NECOM insists that Adewusi’s tenure expired on January 14, 2026, and that the subsisting judgment of June 22, 2023, unequivocally recognizes Akindele as chairman; a ruling that has neither been appealed nor set aside.

The association’s leadership has therefore appealed to the IGP to instruct officers across zones and commands to steer clear of meddling in ANLCA’s internal affairs under the guise of maintaining law and order. Simultaneously, ANLCA has called on Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, and Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Kazeem Olarewaju Alogba, to rein in judges allegedly “selling rulings to buyers.”

By placing the burden of neutrality squarely on the police and judiciary, ANLCA’s narrative underscores a broader concern: that institutional compromise threatens not only the association’s stability but also the credibility of the Nigeria justice system.

A source within the ANLCA President’s office, who declined to be named revealed that Adewusi has planned to storm the MMIA Chapter with police protection and a dubious court ruling, despite a duly registered appeal against the said ruling.

“The police has openly showed bias in the course of the MMIA conflict, and we are worried that the inability of affected officers to resist these heavy inducements is no longer healthy for the image of both the Nigerian Police Force nor the country.

“Is it not a shame that people can procure black market ruling from a Nigeria court, given Nigeria’s status in the subregion, continent and internationally”, he asked rhetorically.