Appeal Court affirms removal of Kabir Ibrahim as president of farmers association

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The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the removal of Kabir Ibrahim as the president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN).

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A three-member panel, in a unanimous decision delivered by Judge Mohammed Danjuma on Thursday, dismissed the appeal filed by Mr Ibrahim.

The panel also awarded N200,000 against Mr Ibrahim in favour of the association’s recognised president, Farouk Mudi, who was declared the validly elected president of the association.

“This appeal is devoid of merit and is hereby dismissed. The judgment of the lower court delivered on 24 March 2022 is affirmed, and a cost of N200,000 is awarded against the appellant and in favour of the respondents,” Mr Danjuma ruled.

The other two judges on the panel, Ali Gumel (presiding) and Anthony Ogakwu, concurred with the judgment.

Mr Ibrahim filed the appeal against the decision of now-retired judge Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which barred him from parading himself as AFAN president.

In the 24 March 2022 judgment, Mr. Taiwo upheld the 10 April 2021 AFAN General Assembly election in Kano, which produced Mr Mudi and members of the association’s National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Council (NEC). The court declared the election valid.

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The judge also ruled that Mr Ibrahim’s tenure expired on 14 June 2019 and ordered him to hand over AFAN’s assets and property in his custody.

In 2020, the leadership crisis led both men to file separate suits at the Federal High Court. Mr Ibrahim, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/329/2020, challenged Mr Mudi’s emergence as president. In response, Mr Mudi filed suit FHC/ABJ/CS/322/2020, asking the court to declare that Mr Ibrahim’s tenure had expired.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that in the first suit is between AFAN, Mr Ibrahim and Tobias Iwu (plaintiffs) vs. Murtala Nyako (former Adamawa State Governor) and Mr Mudi (defendants).

The defendants argued in the case that Mr Ibrahim’s tenure had expired, citing AFAN’s constitution, which provides a single five-year term for its executives.

Judge Taiwo agreed with the argument presented by the defendants’ counsel, Modibbo Bakari, and held that Mr Ibrahim, who became president on 14 June 2014, ought to have vacated office by 14 June 2019.

“There is no provision for tenure elongation in the AFAN constitution,” the judge said.

He said that the election that produced Mr Mudi as president was validly conducted by the appropriate AFAN organ.

In the second suit filed by Mr Mudi through AFAN, with Mr Ibrahim, his dissolved NWC and NEC, and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as defendants, the court reaffirmed that Mr Ibrahim’s tenure had lapsed.

Mr Taiwo said.“The constitution of the association provides for a five-year tenure. The 1st defendant and the executive committee were inaugurated on 14 June 2014.”

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The judge observed that although Mr Ibrahim claimed in an affidavit that he was inaugurated on 15 June 2014, documents before the court showed the event took place on 14 June 2014. Based on this, the court held that his five-year tenure expired on 14 June 2019.

“At that point, the first defendant and his EXCO ceased to be in office,” the judge ruled.

The court also struck out the name of the Inspector-General of Police from the suit, holding that there was no cause of action against him.

He declared that Mr Ibrahim and his team, whose tenure expired in June 2019, no longer had authority to act on behalf of the association, and an order for them to return all AFAN property in their custody.

The court also granted a perpetual injunction restraining them from parading themselves as members of the association’s executive.

AFAN is a national umbrella body established in 1995 that brings together commodity-based associations, such as poultry, oil palm, maize, cassava, snail, and others, representing both crop and livestock farmers.