How NAGAFF missed Vice Chairman’s position in CRFFN Governing Board

By Ranmilowo Ojalumo

It is no longer news that Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni has returned as the chairman of the Governing board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), what many stakeholders may not know is how Princess Chi Eze, a member of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) missed the aspired Vice Chairmanship position of the board.

Princess Eze who polled the highest number of votes in the March, 2022 election of CRFFN board had indicated interest to go for the position of the Vice Chairman of the board but a die minute development denied her the position.

Explaining what happened at the meeting with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi in Abuja on May 4, the Chairman, 100% Compliance Team of NAGAFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko said before going for the meeting, NAGAFF representatives had decided to support the former Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni, to continue in office and then support Princess Eze for the position of the Vice Chairman, but things didn’t work out as they expected.

Tanko said “as we settled down for the meeting, the minister walked in and said he didn’t have more than one minute to spend with us because of other important engagements. He said the essence of calling for the meeting was to find out if we all can agree that the status quo should remain. By that he meant if the Chairman and the vice should continue, and all of us said yes.

Tanko said when the minister raised the issue of status quo remaining, they had expected Princess Eze to declare her interest to run for Vice Chairman but she kept quiet, which was interpreted to mean jettisoning her ambition and based on that, Chief Henry Njoku of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), retained his seat as the Vice Chairman.

Alhaji Tanko also debunked the claims that the Governing Board of the Council has been inaugurated and that the Minister imposed the Chairman on them, saying there was nothing like imposition of a Chairman on the board and that the board has not been officially inaugurated.

He said “I have just returned from Abuja. While there, I was hearing people saying that the Governing Board of the CRFFN has been inaugurated. That is not true. They invited us to a meeting with the minister. To me, the purpose of the meeting was to elect the chairman and the vice”.

Debunking the imposition rumour, Alhaji Tanko said when the Minister suggested to us to see if status quo could remain, nobody objected his suggestion. “Nobody objected to his suggestion. If anybody had objected, we would have conducted the election there, but nobody did. I’m surprised to hear people saying he imposed the Chairman on us; there was nothing like that. I challenge anybody who says this is not what happened to come out and prove me wrong”, Alhaji Tanko said.

On rumor that the council has been inaugurated, the Chairman, 100% Compliance Team of (NAGAFF) explained that when the minister was about leaving the meeting, one of them asked him about the formal inauguration of the board to which he answered that left to him, the body was as good as having been inaugurated; and at that juncture, a lawyer representing the Ministry interjected to clarify that the meeting was not for inauguration and that formal letters to communicate when the exercise would take place, would be sent to them.

He added that after the lawyer made the comment, the minister left and the Chairman, Tsanni, addressed the members, thanking them for their support and promised to work with all of them, and thereafter the meeting ended.