ANLCA Airport Crisis: Femi Anifowoshe Condemns ‘Sit-Tight’ Government of Adewusi

—Urges him to Respect Association Constitution, CCC Peace Accord, Step Down in Interest of Peace

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The leadership crisis at the Lagos Airport Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) had continued to get soar, even as the Western Zone Coordinator of the Association, Alhaji Femi Anifowoshe has urged the Chairman of the chapter, Prince Bamgbala Adewusi to vacate the office in the interest of peace in ANLCA.

Anifowoshe in a chat with DAILY TREND on Monday recounted that the association was in crisis for five years during the tenure of its former President, Tony Iju Nwabunike, a development that forced the Nigeria Customs Service through the Customs Consultative Council (CCC) to wade into the matter and resolve the crisis.

According to him, based on the Peace Accord signed with the CCC which brought back peace into ANLCA in 2023 after five years of crisis, the association resolved to adopt the 2013 Constitution and this was signed by all leaders.

He said that since then, the 2013 Constitution has been used to swear in the present National Executive Committee (NECOM) and the Board of Trustees (BOT)

Anifowoshe however lamented that, despite the fact that all affected chapter Chairmen agreed to step down from office in respect of the CCC Accord, and the 2013 constitution, Bamgbala Adewusi has continued to sit-tight in office, and refused to respect the constitution.

“The Association agreed to adopt the 2013 constitution and it is clearly written that all chapter Chairmen should have three years tenure while the National should have four years tenure.

“All the leaders were there and everybody signed the agreement with the Customs Consultative Council (CCC)
This means that we should all abide with the constitution.

“Everyone of the Chairmen agreed to abide by the 2013 constitution as against the 2020 constitution that was used to swear them into office. We have pleaded with so many of them like Apapa Port chapter, Tin Can Port, PTML, KLT and even all the Eastern Zone were all pleaded with to step down on the 2020 constitution that was used to swear them into power.

“What brought the present NECOM and the BOT into office was equally the 2013 Constitution.

“However, this man Adewusi is trying to forment a new Crisis in the association and it is because of the money he is collecting from SAHCOL and NAHCO at the airport, that is what he is using against us, and we have written to SAHCOL and NAHCO to stop giving him money, yet they still continue to do so.

“The Commissioner of Police at the Airport is not helping matters, we have gone there so many times, but he is still giving Adewusi protection.
Adewusi’s tenure elapsed on 16th of January 2025.

“As the Western Zone Coordinator, I pleaded with the BOT and the NECOM to give me the opportunity to talk with him, I was pleading with him to step down and handover to the person that the NECOM has sworn in so that he can commence his own administration, but Adewusi refused, he kept toying with us. If you ask him to come for a meeting at a location, he would not show up, and everybody is tired of him.

“He is trying to become an umpire in the association, forgetting that even if he stays ten years in office, he would leave one day, this is an association and not his father’s property or company, he must leave one day, some people have been there before, they have left, and others would still come and go

“We are waiting for the board who are custodians of the association properties for us to know the next step to take.

“Meanwhile Adewusi has a lot of issues on him, we were trying to plead with the BOT and the NECOM to wave these sins, and reinstate him because he has been suspended because of these allegations.

“This was why I was pleading with him so that these allegations against him would be dropped, there is a case of fraud against him which is still with the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU)” Anifowoshe stated

According to him, the subvention which Adewusi is getting from SAHCOL and NAHCO runs into millions on monthly basis.

He said that part of the money is supposed to be remitted to the NECOM and Zonal body, but that, for more than two years now, Adewusi has refused to remmit any money.

“He has been spending the money alone, he wants to be a law to himself.

“We don’t want to force him out of that office, and that is why we have been trying to use dialogue, Adewusi has been moving around with Police and Air force, he militarised the secretariat because he does not want leave office.

“The communique signed with the CCC is what everyone agreed to implement. We were in Crisis for five years before the customs and other CCC leaders came out with this communique so that there can be peace in the association, Adewusi is the only one now who has refused to leave office.

“Adewusi should leave that office and allow another person to hold he mantle of leadership at the chapter” he said

Anifowoshe added that Tope Akindele is supposed to take over the mantle of leadership from Adewusi. He noted that Akindele had secured a Judgement of the Cout which asked Adewusi to vacate the office of Chairman, but the Police refused to implement the order of the court.

Another contender to the seat of the Airport Chapter Chairmanship, Prince Bola Ashiru had also secured a Court Judgement against Adewusi, asking him to leave the office. The chairman had filed an Appeal against Ashiru’s Judgement.

He said “The Cout Judgement by Tope Akindele supercedes that of Bola Ashiru which Adewusi appealed and lost.
He appealed Bola Ashirus Judgement and the Appeal was struck out last week Thursday. Meanwhile, Tope Akindele’s Judgement was never appealed, and it supercedes all others because he had gone to court even before the election to stop it from taking place”