By Steve Agbota

The acting National President of the Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Dr. Kayode Farinto has explained how hoodlums allegedly sponsored by aggrieved faction members of the association attacked one of its executives Wale Cole at the Tin Can port last week Thursday.

Recall that hoodlums had stormed the ANLCA Secretariat at Tin Can Port and disrupted activities on Thursday leading to deep matcheting of the Senior Special Adviser to the National President on government warehouses.

Farinto while briefing newsmen over the weekend said Mr. Wale Cole who was innocently driving into the ANLCA secretariat at Tin Can was pointed to by some of the hoodlums allegedly sponsored by the factional chairman Mojeed Olomola and the factional scribe of the Taiwo Mustapha led faction Taiye Oyeniyi.

He said the hoodlums attacked him with the aim to kill him, by matcheting him on his head but manage to survive and currently receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of an undisclosed hospital.

Farinto also accused the Nigerian Police of granting cover to the faction led by Taiwo Mustapha and others, despite a caveat emptor that the two factions should maintain status quo ante, until the Police finish with their report.

He however, alleged that despite the caveat emptor the other factional group has been enjoying the privilege of the AIG Maritime who he alleged to be a friend to Taiye Oyeniyi the ANLCA BoT factional scribe.

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Giving full details he said: “I want to intimate you about the recent happening in ANLCA and to make people know the truth, what happened is that few weeks ago before now we had a situation where the Commissioner of Police said he is going to send OC legal to know the genuine Board of Trustee  (BoT) and that between now and then, everybody should maintain status quo and that there shouldn’t be any meeting whatever and we have been maintaining that until about two weeks ago when we heard a rumour that they are planning to have a western zone meeting.

“We wrote to the Commissioner of Police and he stopped that meeting. So on Wednesday we heard that they are going to have another meeting and the Chairman of Tin Can, Ojo Akintoye, called the attention of the Commissioner of Police, but to our surprise it was even police that gave this other group cover and protected them to have a meeting

“Immediately some people kicked against them having their meeting since the Commissioner of Police have said that everybody should maintain status quo and questioned why they should have a meeting not quite long after that we noticed that one of our executives Mr Wale Cole was attacked after some people pointed at him and they started matcheting him and his scalp was almost removed.

“We learnt from the grape vine that one Taiye Oyeniyi and Mojeed Olomola sponsored the thugs. Its unfortunate that police is not playing a very good role in the crisis of ANLCA, because even police that said we should maintain status quo ante, which we have abide with and we have refused to call a meeting in the western zone, but we now find a situation where police is always giving the other party cover up knowing fully well that we have a certificate from the CAC registering the new BoT.

“So if anything happens the police is culpable and this people have been hiding under the office of the AIG maritime who is a very good bold friend of Taiye Oyeniyi,” he alleged.

He lamented that it is disheartening and discouraging to see where members who have been in the association for over 20 years resort to violence using urchins and miscreants to settle scores.