By Correspondent in Abuja.
Picture:From Left: Barrister Modibbo Bakari; Mr Halidu Yunusa, General-Secretary, All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN); Mr Farouk Mudi, President of AFAN, shortly after the Court of Appeal, Abuja, delivered judgment in the leadership crisis of the association on Thursday.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Thursday, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court that removed Mr. Kabir Ibrahim as the President of the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN).
Delivering judgment in the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/554/2022, Justice Mohammed Danjuma, who led a three-member panel, dismissed the appeal as lacking merit and awarded a cost of N200,000 against Ibrahim in favour of the respondents.
Danjuma held that the two issues raised for determination by the appellant were resolved in favour of Mr. Farouk Mudi, who was affirmed as the legitimate AFAN president.
“This appeal is devoid of merit and is hereby dismissed. The judgment of the lower court delivered on March 24, 2022, is hereby affirmed. A cost of N200,000 is awarded against the appellant,” the court ruled.
The judgment was unanimously supported by the other panel members, Justices Ali Gumel and Anthony Ogakwu.
Our correspondent recalls that Mr. Ibrahim had approached the Appeal Court to challenge the ruling of retired Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which had restrained him from parading himself as AFAN president and recognized Mudi’s election held on April 10, 2021, in Kano.
Justice Taiwo, in the judgment delivered on March 24, 2022, declared that Ibrahim’s tenure had expired on June 14, 2019, and ordered him to hand over all assets and properties of the association in his custody.
The leadership tussle had led to parallel suits: Ibrahim filed suit FHC/ABJ/CS/329/2020 against Mudi, while Mudi countered with FHC/ABJ/CS/322/2020 against Ibrahim.
In the first suit, involving the Incorporated Trustees of AFAN, Ibrahim, and Rev. Tobias Iwu versus Admiral Murtala Nyako and Mudi, Justice Taiwo held that Ibrahim’s five-year tenure, which began on June 14, 2014, had expired in line with Article 13(1) of AFAN’s constitution, which provides no room for tenure elongation.
The court also ruled that the National Executive Council (NEC) of AFAN did not authorize the suit filed by Ibrahim and Iwu, rendering it incompetent.
“The law says he who asserts must prove. There is nothing before the court to show that the NEC authorized the filing of the suit,” Taiwo stated, dismissing the case for lack of merit.
In the second suit filed by Mudi against Ibrahim, his dissolved National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Council (NEC), and the Inspector-General of Police (who was later struck out as a party), the court again ruled in Mudi’s favour.
Justice Taiwo affirmed that Ibrahim ceased to be president from June 14, 2019, adding that he had no authority to act on behalf of the association thereafter.
The judge granted all reliefs sought by Mudi, including an order for Ibrahim to relinquish all AFAN property and a perpetual injunction restraining him and his associates from parading themselves as officials of the association.
Mudi had asked the court to declare that Ibrahim’s continued occupation of the office was illegal and to enforce compliance with AFAN’s constitution and the Companies and Allied Matters Act.
With the Appeal Court’s decision, the legal battle between the two factions appears to have been conclusively resolved in favour of Farouk Mudi’s leadership.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
