INVESTIGATION: Sifax Group Boss, Taiwo Afolabi Allegedly Dumps ANLCA BOT Over Internal Crisis

By DAPO OLAWUNI

Fresh indications have emerged that the Chairman of SIFAX Group, Dr Taiwo Afolabi has dumped the controversial Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) over the intractable crisis that has engulfed the association for the past three years.

Authoritative sources within the company; SIFAX Group, informed DAILY TREND NEWS on Wednesday that the SIFAX Group boss was not aware of the numerous court cases and bickering within the association as at when he was lobbied in November 2020 to serve on the association board.

According to sources, immediately the BOT elections which was conducted in Owerri Imo State was concluded, Dr Afolabi had contacted his lawyers who advised him to pull out of the crisis-ridden association so as not to soil his well-built reputation over the years.

Recall also that the SIFAX Group boss was not even at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and board elections conducted in Owerri Imo State, however, a video of him campaigning for the board position was peddled in the social media.

Sources within ANLCA confirmed to out correspondent that Dr. Afolabi had made efforts severally to help resolve the crisis within ANLCA but both factions were not ready to shift grounds.

While reacting to a report about the recent court injunction restraining the “Owerri BOT” from parading themselves in office, the source said “For your information, Dr Afolabi is not a member of the ANLCA BOT, he never submitted any document to become a member of board of ANLCA, and I can tell you that at the early stages of when the election was concluded, he has notified them that he is no longer interested”

Recall that a Federal High Court in Kano Judicial Division, Kano State, before his lordship, Hon Justice A. Lewis-Alagoa on March 25th 2021 issued an order of interim injunction, restraining the Owerri BOT, while upholding Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha as the authentic board chairman of ANLCA.

When asked why Dr. Afolabi refused to make a public announcement to distance himself from the ANLCA crisis, the source stated that “Dr. Taiwo Afolabi has refused to make a public announcement because he was been appealed to by top echelon of the association, knowing fully well that his pulling out might make them look weak in the ongoing crisis ”

Our source however stated that the SIFAX Group boss was embarrassed that his name is being peddled around by the ANLCA leadership in order to score cheap points.

When news of Dr. Afolabi’s pulling-out of the BOT first filtered-in around December 2020, Vice President of ANLCA, Dr Kayode Farinto was asked to confirm the story, but he had dismissed it as a “beer parlor gist”

Farinto had during a press conference in his office in December 2020, stressed that Dr Taiwo Afolabi is still very much a member of the ANLCA board.

“Anybody telling you that, is feeding you with lies, there is no day that I don’t talk to Dr. Afolabi, he is aware that we have crisis in ANLCA and he called me about it, of which I explained to him that the tenure of this former board has expired, he is aware”

“When he sent his campaign video, I was the one he sent it to, so forget about beer parlor gist, ANLCA has moved forward, whether you like it or not, if ANLCA does not move forward, it affects all the facets of the industry because there would be nobody to challenge anybody”

“We now have a new Board which has been inaugurated and Taiwo Afolabi is a member”

Also addressing journalists during a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, the ANLCA Vice President reiterated that “The BOT led by Dr Taiwo Afolabi is intact”