ANLCA Airport Chapter Crisis Thickens as BOT Appeals Court Ruling Declaring Ashiru Balogun Chairman
ANLCA Secretariat, Lagos Airport
—Insists Tope Akindele Remains Chairman
By DAPO OLAWUNI
The leadership crisis in the Lagos Airport chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has entered a new phase.
The association’s Board of Trustees (BOT) has appealed a Federal High Court judgment that declared Chief Bola Asiru Balogun the chairman of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Chapter (MMAC).
It has also filed a motion for a stay of execution.
The BOT’s lawyer, Adekunle Awodiji, filed the notice of appeal and the stay motion on October 9, a day after Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa delivered the judgment in Lagos.
DAILY TREND reports that the chapter has been in a protracted leadership dispute for several years now.
In the latest appeal filed, the BOT counsel raises several grounds and asks the Court of Appeal to allow the appeal and set aside the October 8, 2026 judgment.
The first ground states: “The Learned Trial Judge erred in Law when he held that the Respondent is the chairman of the Muritala Muhammed Airport Chapter, Lagos State of the Association af Nigerran Licensed Customs Agents.”
The appellants argue that the trial judge failed to consider or give effect to an earlier judgment of Justice Emmanuel O. Ogundare of the Lagos State High Court, delivered on June 22, 2023. That court, the BOT says, declared Temitope Pius Akindele chairman of the chapter on the strength of his election victory.
Part of the argument by the BOT was also that Balogun was not qualified to contest the chapter election of January 15, 2022. It claims he was not a member of the association at that time, because the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) had struck his company off the register and his licence to operate as a customs agent had been suspended.
The BOT argued that the judgment was among other things, against the weight of evidence.
Following the filing, the association on Tuesday 13th October called on its members at the chapter to maintain calm and confidence.
In a widely circulated notice to members, it says the National Executive Committee (NECOM) and the BOT have instructed Tope Akindele as chairman, to take over the chapter’s secretariat, assets and properties.
The leadership maintains that Akindele, also known as Ijoba, remains the substantive chairman and says the chapter’s administrative apparatus has been fully handed over to him.
It describes the national leadership as completely in control and urges members to stay calm, vigilant and loyal to NECOM and to Akindele.
Meanwhile, the judgment at the centre of the dispute, delivered in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/2251/2025, went in Bola Ashiru Balogun’s favour on every issue.
He had sued the Incorporated Trustees of ANLCA, the Board of Trustees, the National Executive Committee, the National Executive Council and the Registrar General of the CAC.
His complaint was that the association recognised Akindele and Bamgbala Adewusi as simultaneous chairmen of the same chapter.
The court declared null, void and of no effect the participation of the two men, who both lay claim to the MMAC chairmanship, in the NECOM election.
The court first dismissed the respondents’ preliminary objection that Balogun lacked standing to sue because his company, Sofotopy Nigeria Limited (RC 88928), had been struck off.
Justice Lewis-Allagoa held that Justice E.U. Akpan of the Federal High Court had ordered the company reinstated on November 3, 2025. The CAC, in a letter dated December 17, 2025, confirmed it as active.
The court therefore held that Balogun satisfied Section 4(1) of the ANLCA Supreme Constitution and had full standing.
On the substance, the judge held that Section 5 of the ANLCA Constitution (as amended in 2000) provides for a chairman for each chapter in the National Executive Council, not two persons for one chapter. Section 11(2) further provides that only one person shall occupy the office of chairman at any one time.
The two sides now hold opposing claims to the same secretariat. Balogun relies on a Federal High Court judgment, while the BOT relies on the Lagos State High Court judgment of 2023 and its pending appeal.
It is pertinent to note that whether the Court of Appeal grants the stay will determine who controls the chapter in the meantime.
