‘Court made no pronouncement on registered BoT’ – Sanni

Says Njoku led gang desperation cannot obviate the status quo

BY EGUONO ODJEGBA

The Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha led registered Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has said that contrary to a deliberate fake news allegedly woven by jaundiced minds to mislead unsuspecting members of the public about a purported court annulment of its existence, the board with all its powers and authority remains valid and functional.

In a telephone conversation with Mr. Joe Sanni, Member of ANLCA Interim Committee, hooted at the claim, saying it is an unintelligent lie deployed as face saving propaganda to cause confusion and mislead un-discerning members of the public.

The interim committee was set up by the BoT to oversee the running of the daily affairs of the association last week, following the sacking of the suspended National Executive Committee (NECOM) from the National Secretariat and its subsequent sealing by the Nigerian Police.

According to Sanni, the fake news is not unconnected with the antics of the suspended NECOM and its alleged enabler, Chief Henry Njoku, who he accused of encouraging the NECOM to continue to constitute itself into a nuisance, despite having been commanded by the courts to stop parading itself in office.

Sanni further described the fake news as an act of desperation, noting that Njoku and his cohorts are known for acts of mischief and frivolity, and to what extent he allegedly can go to fabricate lies to advance his morbid desire.

He said, “The current court ruling they have as usual tied to dress up with lies is already in public domain, and anybody that can read and write can easily see through their lies. There is no place the court invalidated the registered BoT in its ruling. It is simply in their imagination, and the funniest part of this present charade is that the lies as it is with others before now, are all unintelligent lies.

“Haba, you should know where it is coming from now…Tony, Farinto, Chukwura and their mercenaries  have lost all moral discipline in submitting to court judgments. Don’t forget that Henry Njoku is behind beating the drum for them.

“Tired of hiding behind the curtains, he (Njoku) has called himself out. After the registered BoT recovered the secretariat from them, he ran to a High Court in Abeokuta to procure a kangaroo judgment, the type labour leaders call black market injunction, to continue to mislead the industry and the general public.

“It is Henry who has been promoting all the crisis, using Tony and the others as front. Thank God enforcement of court rulings is already in place and the BoT has taken over the affairs of the association, the end to their lies is already in sight. Take note that what the Court in Lagos said was that both parties should return to the arbitration table, that did not in any way invalidate existing court judgment that removed them (NECOM) from office.

“It is part of the legal process agreed upon by both lawyers, that of the suspended NECOM and the registered BoT, and that was what the judge relied upon to advise that both parties should submit to arbitration and where that fails, the court can then make a final judgment on whether to commit Tony and his fellow travelers to jail or not.”

Also commenting on the development, a member of the legal team of the registered BoT faulted the claim that the ruling favoured NECOM against the BoT, even as he noted that the former lied under oath at the Federal High Court Abeokuta, by misleading the court.

He said, “Section 26 of ANLCA Constitution says that anybody that want to go to court must first explore arbitration to see if the issues can be settled amicably. As the BoT legal representative, we were mindful of that section and we told the court we would want to explore that, which the judge in his wisdom granted.

“Invariably if we cannot settle, we will go back to court and say we tried but couldn’t settle. So when l saw the flimsy an uninformed write up that the BoT has been asked to stepped aside, l laugh, it was not. The BoT is still in existence and its end was not an issue at the court.

“There is no such thing as the BoT case having come to an end, it has not. Sadly the other party is not ready for any settlement, judging by the kangaroo injunction they went to Abeokuta to get. They went to Abeokuta and lied that they are the BoT , they lied and deceived the court, they lied on oath that all members of the BoT were in the court; based on which the court gave a judgment that they should continue acting as BoT.

“These are people who cannot register with CAC given the prevailing circumstances. They deceived the Abeokuta judgeand refused to tell the court that the BoT case, the dispute of the BoT is subsisting in  a Lagos High Court. So essentially, the court granted the order as a result of deceit by those who approached it. That was a fraudulent misrepresentation of facts. We will set aside that judgment as soon as make the facts known to the court.”

In addition, the lawyer explained that his client went to court earlier this week because the other party was challenging its registration at the CAC. He narrated the sordid lies allegedly told by Henry Njoku and members of the suspended NECOM at the CAC in alleged attempt to fraudulently withdraw and obfuscate the BoT registration duly carried out in 2020 by Mustapha’s led BoT.

“This current suit was instituted because the other party was trying to challenge the BoT registration which was done at CAC. Earlier, they went for a kangaroo meeting with CAC where they lied and deceived the CAC that those of them there were all the parties involved in the case, and as a result, that CAC should allow them write a letter to withdraw the certificate.

“Later, the authentic members of the BoT went to court to nullify that process. It is a cardinal principle in law that in any dispute and discussion, all the parties must be heard. So it was illegal for some people to have gone to CAC without giving members of the board any notice. So the CAC acting on that deceit wrote a letter to say the certificate has been withdrawn.

“We went there and said no, we did not withdraw our registration, and we proceeded to the court to invalidate the kangaroo meeting and agreement they had with the CAC. “