ANLCA IMBROGLIO: THERE IS NO TRUE RECONCILIATION YET , THE CRACKS ARE STILL THERE
—- CHIEF SONNIEL ONOCHIE
Recently, The Prestige Blended Magazine engaged the MD/ CEO of Real Passion Nigeria Limited, and Chieftain of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Chief Sonniel Ebonyem Onochie in an exclusive interview in his Apapa office, he had a swell time to speak on issues of leadership, disunity amongst members and the need for true reconciliation.
Enjoy the excerpt !
ONOCHIE :
“What is happening in ANLCA today is a result of the mistake we made in Warri Election. It is the side effect of the bitter pill ANLCA ingested in Warri, and that was forcing Alhaji Mustapha on us as Chairman of Board of Trustees.
We were running helter skelter for NECOM election and after the election what is happening today ? Where are the Igbos in the whole arrangement ?
It is quite unfortunate that the people making a hell of noise now don’t even know how the election was won and lost, that is why l call Prince Segun Oduntan the game changer. I give him the credit . Originally l never supported them simply because Kayode Farinto’s group accommodated more Igbos than Nwokeoji’s group. Nwokeoji is the President and is based in Portharcourt, the Assistant Secretary is based in Portharcourt, apart from the National Publicity Secretary, Emma Onyeama, that base in Lagos, the rest are from the West.
I had it very rough with the present Western Zone Coordinator, Femi, in the election that produced Mustapha in Warri, Delta State, where were all these people then, were they in ANLCA, it’s because we don’t pay attention to details, and we don’t consider who came first, though nobody’ owns ANLCA.
Where were all these people jumping up and down today when Warri election was held.
Whether anyone believes it or not, a time is coming when we shall all realize our mistakes. They have instructed everyone to drop whatever position he or she occupied at Tincan as every body is now an officer, l quite welcome the decision but it is obvious that the discrimination still exists. It is quite glaring, Mojeed’s group does not regard Ojo’s group as Tincan Chapter ANLCA members, and someone is telling me of reconciliation, where is the reconciliation, where is the unity ?
For me, there is no reconciliation yet, if we want total reconciliation we must sit down and tell ourselves the truth, we must blame whosever that is to be blamed and commend anyone that deserves commendation.
Besides, it is not when you leave where you belonged to join ANLCA you become a champion, it does not work that way; what of those of us that have been here for ages without making a noise. I am yet to see true reconciliation in ANLCA.
The appointment made so far is lopsided, and the people being appointed are those that can not tell the President or his Vice that this thing is wrong, let’s do it the other way.
Those that are saying that there are no cracks in ANLCA are not telling themselves the truth. There are cracks in ANLCA because appointments are one sided. Since they assumed office have they visited the terminals, if not for few of us who are on ground at the terminals and gates, many things would have gone wrong, most of us that are field men have been making sure that ANLCA is not overrun by other associations .
Since ‘June 12’ was appointed CSO by ANLCA president, how are our members faring, he was the one attending to some of their challenges at PTML and Five Star, now that he is no longer on ground, who is addressing their challenges, has anyone been seeing to their welfare. You get to the gate they will want to break your hands, you go to the terminals they want to break your neck. Those of us that are at 2nd Gate are manning the area and we refuse to be intimidated. How many times have our National Officers come to interact with agents to know what is happening at the terminals, the gates , the Scanning points and other units. They only visit the CAC from there they enter their vehicles and leave. What happens to those in the field. The basic thing is that if we want to achieve total reconciliation, we must come together and trash certain issues. Anyone who says there is no crack in ANLCA is not telling the truth. Some are there because they just want to be there, but can not sell good ideas to the President. All they are interested in is appointment.
We stay at the terminals, we visit car parks to make sure we are not shortchanged, we fight for agents, who amongst the National Officers has come to ask them what is happening at their stations, no one cares to know what our members are passing through; go to bonded terminals and see what is happening.
Everyone saw what happened when the CAC visited 2nd Gate weeks ago, they never gave him attention, they behaved the way they did because nobody is speaking on their behalf.
I was called to support Nwokeoji during the electioneering campaigns, l was told that his candidacy was in the interest of the Igbos. Today, we have him as President and an Assistant Secretary, both base in Portharcourt, and here in Lagos, the rest are from the West. So where is the Igbo interest ?
I am not saying that Emenike is being used but he has to stand up and unite everybody irrespective of faction . Let him stand up boldly and make a statement, let him declare that “as from today we don’t have either A or B, what we have is one big family.” Though he did that when he took all of us to the CAC and declared that there is no Chairman, no Vice, that everyone is an officer. But ever since then, there has not been any change, that discrimination is still there and we are watching.
When you have children you must study their characters. As a father that wants them to be together, you must always call them to order. Anyone that says no to peace must be called to order and made to understand why peace should reign amongst them.
Anyone that is fanning the embers of discord must have a rethink, we must call a spade a spade. Such people don’t mean well for the association, and it is not the original intent of our founding fathers. We have to make sure our members are not maltreated in the ports, that should be our primary concern, welfare of members first. Things should be done appropriately. That person sitting somewhere and shouting “we no go gree, we no go gree” is not the owner of ANLCA, we are all joiners.
I want to thank Emenike Nwokeoji for standing his ground, l want to also commend Chief Ofobike for his efforts overtime, l call him man of grace. I was in the same vehicle with him and late David Kanikwu in Portharcourt when we had a fatal accident. I was with him in the hospital for about three days wearing the same clothes until Chief Elochukwu brought clothes for me and told me to take any available flight back to Lagos. It was in that hospital that Alhaji Inua Muhammed told Ofobike that ” if they like let them kill you, you must be Chairman of Apapa Chapter of ANLCA.”
I am calling on Chief Ofobike and other Igbo leaders to make sure things don’t go wrong again. Everybody should forgive and forget, let’s embrace peace and move forward.
I don’t want to dwell much on the office of the National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA. Someone was elected into that office and another person is usurping his position, relegating him to the background. Which association does that ? Someone that was not elected into office is issuing communique on behalf of the association, doing the job of the NPS and somebody is telling me that there is no crack in ANLCA, it’s a huge lie ! Let them go back to the Constitution. An SSA can not be doing the job of the NPS . We have organogram and there are terms of reference for officers so that they don’t overstep their boundaries.
I am not against him appointing SSA Media, but the SSA should only speak in matters relating to the President alone not for the association. They should allow the NPS to do his job if at all there is true reconciliation in ANLCA.”