Amaechi’s ‘Support Group Cordinator’ Tsanni Abubakar Inaugurated As CRFFN Board Chairman, Others Grumble

For the second time, the minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has allegedly inaugurated his anointed man; Alhaji Tsani Abubakar as Chairman of the newly inaugurated 4th Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN)

DAILY TREND findings showed that Amaechi who is contesting to become Nigerian president in 2023 has Tsanni Abubakar as the National Cordinator for Amaechi Support Group.

Meanwhile, the CRFFN Act provides that Chairman of CRFFN board should come from the register of freight forwarders as an elected member of the board.

In the same style which the Minister adopted in 2018 inauguration of the 3rd governing council, sources at the inauguration said that the Minister walked into the conference room in Abuja, rushed the process which returned the erstwhile chairman and the Vice Chairman of the now-dissolved 3rd governing board unopposed.

“There was no election. The Minister just sauntered into the conference room of the ministry and said that he would not spend more than one minute with us.

“After that, he asked us if we wanted the status quo to remain, to which we all chorused in the affirmative.

” So the former Chairman, Alhaji Tsanni Abubakar was returned unopposed while his former Deputy in the last board, Chief Henry Njoku, was also returned unopposed as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the new board respectively.

“He didn’t just give us any chance to make our own choice, the Minister merely stampeded us
“That man cannot be the President of Nigeria. He is too dictatorial” a member of the new board who did not want his name in print for fear of reprisal action, lamented.

The 32- members governing board was inaugurated in a low-key manner devoid of any funfair.
Insider sources said that Ameachi, seemed to had already made up his mind on the principal officers who will pilot the affairs of the council.

When asked why nobody could challenge the imposition of the principal officers, especially the chairman who was not an elected but selected member, Acting President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Dr Kayode Farinto said no one was qualified to vie against TsanniAbubakar.

“Even, if we, the elected members, decided to run against him in an election, don’t forget that the government selected members are more than us who were elected.
” While we are 15, the selected members are 17 and that put them at an advantage”.
The Minister however told the members of the board that they would be invited at a later date for the ceremonial aspect of the inauguration.

Another source at the meeting however argued that Tsanni Abubakar emergence was a consensus among all the gathered freight forwarders and that it was not an imposition by the Minister.

According to our source, “It was all the freight forwarders that agreed at a seating, they wanted all the officers to return”

With the Wednesday inauguration, the fourth governing board of the CRFFN has officially taken off and was told to hit the ground running.
15 freight forwarders were elected into the council during the March elections which took place in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt on 9th March 2022 while 17 members were selected by the government from different agencies to make up the 32- member governing board.