BoT/ASECO Meeting Without Prejudice To ANLCA Peace Resolutions’ – Mustapha

Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha has denied allegations that he is working to truncate the association’s peace process brokered by the Customs Consultative Council (CCC).
Mustapha who was reacting to news report over a purported secret meeting by the board led by him and the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO), where he allegedly have taken decisions opposed to agreements reached by the two presidential campaign camps and their followers.
Mustapha who called to state his side of the story, said an online medium reported the meeting out of context.
According to the report, Mustapha directed the ASECO to commence verification of voters’ licenses in the Eastern and Northern Zone, contrary to the Peace Accord Resolution which vested the task on the CCC.
It will be recalled that part of the association’s crisis is based on allegations that some members of the ASECO do not possess operating licenses and therefore lack the legitimacy to preside over the forthcoming election.
But clarifying the development, Mustapha said there’s no truth in the allegation that he’s going contrary to peace resolutions, saying he merely acted in line with subsisting arrangements between the board and ASECO in furtherance of the election.
He said, “My attention was drawn to a report in an online medium that said we were involved in a secret meeting.
“Number one, the meeting was held at the National Secretariat, and in the presence of every other members, and if the meeting was not held at night, that meeting can’t be said to cladestine.
“Two, why l called the meeting was that the National Executive Committee (NECOM) will be handing over to the board by next week, and there are outstanding financial issues that need to be resolved before the time.
“Then the verification of voters, we have over 1000 voters, l mean the ASECO, irrespective of the position of the licenses, we need to know how far they have gone with the verification.
“As at the time we were going for the CCC meeting, there was an issue between the NECOM and BoT in view of the dissolution of NECOM, the verification was ongoing, so before the NECOM handover there’s need for the BoT to know the position of things.”
He explained that there was a misunderstanding about his intentions regarding the reported verification exercise in the eastern zone.
“Also before the recent resolution, ASECO had started verification process in the eastern zone, so l directed the Chairman to go there and know where they stopped so that all these things can be contained in the handover report.”