ANLCA: Should house owner seek police protection to access his abode? Mukaila asks “new NECOM”

By Ray Ugochukwu

The National Secretary, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Mukaila Abdulazeez, said the Nigerian Police Force has an explanation to give to Nigerians if a house owner should always seek police protection each time he wants to enter his house.

He said this in view of the purported takeover of the association’s Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos, national Secretariat by a group that claimed to be the Board of Trustees (BoT) of ANLCA.

The soft-spoken ANLCA scribe described what happened yesterday as barbaric action aided by security agents.

Mukaila recalled that each time the ANLCA executives were out of the Secretariat for one engagement or the other, the sacked former BoT members would invade the Secretariat.

He explained to Seabreeze News that the exco was invited to a tour of the Lekki Deep Seaport when the expelled members struck at the Secretariat with the assistance of the police.

The association’s scribe said he saw the letter signed by an expelled member to the police seeking for protection for a purported meeting.

“How can an expelled member sign a letter for a registered association? The police has an explanation to make to Nigerians. They have to explain if somebody who wants to enter his own house must seek their protection.

“You see, this has always been their style. Each time they discover that the exco members are out of town, they will invade the Secretariat. The question is, if the house belongs to you, as you claim, do you require police escort to access it?

“Don’t worry, we have a meeting there tomorrow (today) so let’s see what is going to happen”, Mukaila said.

The former sacked BoT members led by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha invaded the ANLCA Secretariat Wednesday guided by the police claiming to have sacked the Hon. Iju Tony Nwabunike’s National Executive Committee (NECOM).

The group was said to have appointed a caretaker committee led by Mr. Pius Ujubuonu to run the affairs of the association pending a future election.

However, the acting National President of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto reacted by dismissing the act as a shenanigan, saying that “there is no parallel NECOM in ANLCA”.

Observers are watching the unfolding drama in the association which has been bedeviled with internal crisis spanning over three years now.