State chapter chairmen of the Nigeria Association of Auctioneers (NAA) and members of its caretaker committee are billed for a meeting tomorrow with the Board of Trustees in Lagos in continuation of efforts to unite the body, writes WALE AJETUNMOBI
hief Saibu Akan, Mr Suara Ajuwon and Alhaji Fatai Mogbonjubola will have a busy day tomorrow. They are members of the registered Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Association of Auctioneers (NAA) and are billed to superintend over two meetings in Lagos. The first will be with members of the body’s caretaker committee. The second meeting will involve the caretaker committee members and the state chairmen. Both meetings are not unconnected with the order of Justice A.M. Talba of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, which vacated the injunction against the caretaker committee.
As a result of the ruling, the BoT on Monday urged members to ignore Alhaji Aliyu Kiliya who dragged Akan and others to the court for not recognising the election that gave him a fresh mandate as the association’s president. The BoT said any act by Kiliya on behalf of the association was a potential contempt of court.
On February 2 when the motion on notice was to be heard, Kiliya, through his legal team led by Adewale Yusuf, said: ”We have an application pending before the court. But regrettably we cannot proceed. Because we are looking up to the possibility settlement and we need to put house in order to regularise our documents. We ask for a short adjournment.”
The lawyer for the Board of Trustees, Dayo Ajibola, said: “Ordinarily I would not have raised any objection because my colleagues intimated me. But I seek to make two applications. Since my learned friend intends to put his house in order, I apply that the court should discharge the interim order granted. And more so the interim order lasts for 14 days. Since they are not ready to proceed with their motion on notice, it is necessary for the court to make a pronouncement on the interim order. We are not opposed to the request for adjournment. The interim order was advertised in the national dailies.”
Kiliya’s team tried to stop the vacation of the interim order by arguing that: “
We are opposed to the application to set aside the interim order. The interim order was granted pending the hearing of the motion on notice. If they want to apply for the vacation of the order, they should come formally.”
Justice Talba agreed with Kiliya’s counsel. He thus ruled: “The ex-parte order is meant to last pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. Today is fixed for the hearing of the motion on notice. The plaintiff/applicant counsel had asked the court to adjourn the matter because regrettably he cannot proceed with the motion on notice, reasons being that there is a move towards settlement out of court and applicant needs to regularise their documents. On this note the respondent counsel applied that the interim order granted should be discharged hence it is meant to last for not more than 14 days. And hence the motion on notice cannot be taken then the ex-parte order should be discharged without much ado it is trite that unlike an interlocutory order which is to last for more than 14 days. It is meant to last pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. But the plaintiff/applicants are not ready to proceed with the motion on notice; therefore, the interim order is liable to be discharged accordingly the interim order granted on the 30/12/17 hereby discharge.”
Trouble had broken out late last year after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Women Development Centre, Abuja. The AGM, some aggrieved members said, was inconclusive.
Since then, the association has been in disarray, prompting its registered Board of Trustees (BoT) members to make moves to save the association from imminent collapse. The BoT said it has dissolved the national leadership of the association and constituted a caretaker committee to run its affairs.
The BoT members said the dissolution of the NAA executive followed a crisis which rocked the association over the ‘inconclusive’ AGM. The trustees also said they had disbanded the electoral committee inaugurated by NAA national executive, describing the committee as fraudulent. They said the election will not stand.
Akan, who spoke for the five-member registered trustees last December, said the BoT took the move to save the association from imminent disrepute, which he said may lead to the collapse of the body founded 30 years ago.
Relying on Section 34(3) and (4) of the association’s constitution, Akan said the trustees the exercised powers vested in the registered BoT by dissolving the Kiliya-led executive and inaugurated caretaker committee led by Alhaji Salisu Garba to run the association for a period of six months.
The caretaker committee, which has Mr Goke Adedokun as its secretary, was installed on December 15 with the mandate to unite aggrieved members and conduct a new election into the national offices of the association.
Kiliya ran to the court to challenge the legitimacy of the caretaker committee. He got an interim injunction which has now been vacated.
How the crisis began
The crisis rocking the association, according to the BoT, started with the constitution of the organising committee for the AGM, which was initially scheduled to hold in Bauchi State. But, for security reasons, the AGM was moved to Abuja to enable members across the federation participate in it.
After a meeting held to select members of the AGM organising committee, Akan said the registered trustees were sidelined by the Kiliya-led executive in the process of ratification and swearing in of the committee members.
This, Akan said, contravened the association’s procedures and rules. He alleged that some unknown persons were appointed as members of BoT to ratify the organising committee members’ selection.
Akan said: “These unknown persons were nominated as trustees to represent their geo-political zones, but their membership is yet to be approved by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in line with the laws and procedures. They were engaged as unregistered members to swear in the AGM organising committee. This was not proper, because it breached the provision of the association’s constitution.”
Of the five registered trustees statutorily recognised by the CAC, The Nation gathered that two are deceased. They are the late Mr. Ojo Olufemi and the late Chief Felix Igbinosa Ehigiator. The remaining three registered BoT members are Akan, Ajuwon and Mogbonjubola.
Akan said the three living members of the BoT should have inaugurated the organising committee for the AGM and the electoral committee in accordance to the association’s procedure.
He said: “When we discovered the NAA executive breached the constitution, we drew the attention of Kiliya to the problems. We instructed him to tell members of the committees to constantly submit the reports of their activities to the registered trustees for approval. Kiliya agreed to conditions and promised to do things in proper way.
“About two days to the AGM, the registered trustees summoned the organising committee members to submit the report of their activities, none of them showed up. We learnt they met with unrecognised trustees and took decision to go ahead with the AGM.”
This led to discontent in the association, because state chapters’ members feared they could be favouritism in the NAA election. This led to the call for the dissolution of the committees constituted by the unregistered trustees before the annual meeting.
Akan said: “We still reached out to the committee members on the eve of the AGM and told them they would use their agenda to destroy the association. We gave them the last chance to submit the report to know whether the AGM could hold or not. We reminded the committee members that all decisions must be taken at our instances.
”It has never happened in the history of the association that the president would not give members annual report of his stewardship. It is the annual report that gives members a sense of direction about the association’s progress. Where there is a fault, members will take note and draw the attention of the executive. There will be argument and counter-argument before conclusion is reached and report is adopted. This was not done.”
The last straw the broke the camel’s back was the process adopted by the electoral committee on the conduction of election into the national executive offices. Against the association’s electoral procedure, candidates were asked to pay between N50,000 and N100,000 each to facilitate their nominations.
The registered trustees said the development was contrary to the principles of the association, which make all offices open to members free of charge.
It was gathered that some candidates, who could not pay up to N100,000, had their names screened out by members of the electoral committee.
Akan said: “When we received the petitions from aggrieved members, we knew the association was heading to precipice. We summoned the national president and aggrieved members for resolution of the crisis that arise from the AGM and election. To our surprise, Kiliya said he would not attend the meeting. Then next thing we heard was a rumour that the BoT has been charged to court.”
Kiliya defends self
Speaking through the association’s External Counsel, Ibrahim Jibril Gusau, Kiliya denied wrongdoings in the organisation of the AGM and constitution of the electoral committee. He described members of the BoT as enemies of the association, alleging that the trustees employed divide and rule tactics to perpetuate themselves in the BoT position for life.
Gusau said: “It is not true that the last AGM was inconclusive. We have the video evidence to support this. The people claiming the event was inconclusive made the vote of thanks after the meeting. How possible is it for a vote of thanks to be said at an event some people claim is inconclusive? These people are enemies of the association.”
On the allegation of appointment of unregistered persons as BoT members, Gusau said: “We want the public to know that the association is a national body and every zone in the country must be given fair representation in the leadership of the association. In line with the constitution, members said the BoT membership should not come from one zone. The present BoT members are all from the Southwest, which does not reflect the true spirit of our constitution.
“At the 2014 AGM held in Minna in Niger State, members met to agree on the expansion of BoT membership to minimum of nine or maximum of 10 from five. The resolution was ratified by all members present and it was enshrined in the constitution that each zone must produce BoT member.
“Since this was done in 2014, the three registered trustees have not gone to the CAC to regularise the BoT membership expansion. They have been using divide and rule tactics to perpetuate themselves in the position for life. This is not done anywhere.”
Gusau also denied the allegation of financial appropriation against the Kiliya-led executive, wondering why the BoT members did not raise the issue during the AGM. He said there was never a time any member called for the auditing of the association’s account, noting that Kiliya is ready anytime for auditing of the executive activities.
The lawyer said the crisis came to the fore because the BoT members did not want membership extended to people from other region. He said all allegations against any member of the executive were unfounded. He advised the aggrieved members to follow the conflict resolution process spelt out in the association’s constitution, urging them to channel their complaints to the body’s disciplinary committee.
Back to dialogue
Now that Kiliya has told the court of his readiness to explore out-of-court settlement, it is hoped that the end is in sight to the crisis rocking the association.
