Some principal officers of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), on Tuesday, condemned the Association National President, Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike, over a query issued to his Vice, Kayode Farinto over a purported letter written to the World Customs Organisation (WCO), addressing alleged discrepancies in valuation by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Nwabunike had slammed a query on Farinto, asking him to “explain why severe disciplinary action(s) should not be taken against him on the following grounds: Writing a letter in the name of ANLCA to the Secretary-General of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), dated August 3, 2020 with referenced ANLCA/WCO/VOL042/08/020 without the authority of the Association.”
In the query, the National President explained that the said letter to the WCO which was not authorised by the National body was in total violation of section 3(a), (d) and (e) of the Association’s constitution as amended; and that because sub-section 2(c) under section 7 of ANLCA constitution provides that the Deputy President is the Chairman of the National Disciplinary Committee of the Association, he is hereby recused from this function as he cannot be a judge in his own case, in line with the principle of ” Nemo Judex In Causa Sha. But, reacting to the query, some members of the Association who spoke to maritime journalists on Tuesday faulted the National President for his action against Farinto, stating that the query was uncalled for since the WCO letter addressed issues affecting Customs brokers operation.
Speaking on the issue, the Coordinator, Western Zone of ANLCA, Mr John Offorbike, said the query letter was uncalled for because, like the National President, the Vice President also swore an oath to protect the interest of the members, which he has been doing.