There is disquiet among the ranks of the National Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) ahead of the Annual General Meeting of the association scheduled for next week in Jos, Plateau state.
Some members of the association who spoke with Daily Trust expressed dissatisfaction over the arrangement put in place for the election by the outgoing executive.
They said there is a move to impose the present Gen. Secretary as the new President, and vowed to challenge the planned AGM in court.
One of the aggrieved members who pleaded anonymity said, “All is not well at all with the planned AGM and we have concluded that we would not stand aloof and watch some members draw back the progress of this association.
The source said there is a scheming by some power brokers in the association to impose the present General Secretary, one Ime Udo of Leadway tours as the new president of NATOP.
The aggrieved members also raised eyebrow over what they called absence of accountability and transparency in the running of the association.
They claimed that an unapproved auditor was used to do a rushed audit of the account which was not released to members 14 days before the AGM as stipulated by the constitution.
Our correspondent made efforts to reach out to the outgoing President, Nkereuwem Onung but he did not pick his calls while he did not reply text message sent to him by our correspondent as at of the time of filing this report.
However, another source in the association told our correspondent that the aggrieved members were trying to malign the leadership of the association, saying the alleged misappropriation of funds levelled against it were baseless.
“They talk about the financial assistance that comes from South African Tourism Board ahead of the AGM but they fail to realize that the money only comes after the AGM has taken place.
“They claimed we want to foist Udo on them. Are they saying she is not qualified being the present General Secretary? And again if you have any issue with her candidature, you can as well present your candidate in Jos for election.
“As for the planned boycott, I don’t think this is correct because delegates from 16 states have already registered for the Jos convention and I can assure you it would be better than 2017 event”, a source who spoke in confidence with our correspondent said.