An Enugu-born commercial farmer, Ahmad Sani Ibrahim, formerly known as Friday Nnaji, has petitioned the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 13, raising the alarm over alleged criminal defamation and attempts by some persons to misrepresent his farming partnership with the Enugu State Government. He is pleading with the law enforcement agency to investigate the matter to avert breach of peace.
Mr. Ibrahim accused two indigenes of Isi-Uzo LGA, Mr. Simon Ede and Engr. Samuel Ugwuede of falsely relying on a purported search at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to present the agricultural venture with the state government as a front by some northern elements to acquire vast lands in Isi-Uzo for sinister purposes.
The farmer, who said that he converted to Islam in 1998, also clarified that shareholders and directors of the company, who bear Muslim names were not northerners as published by Samuel Ugwuede and Simon Ede, but his wives and children.
He equally explained that the venture was for crop production, not ranching, as claimed by the Ede and Ugwuede. Mr. Ibrahim further accused the duo of Ugwuede and Ede of cyberstalking, racist and xenophobic publications against his person, and Ugwu Anama Farms, as well a deliberate attempt to cause a breach of peace in Isi- Uzo and the state in general.
In the petition dated April 11, 2024, and accompanied with an old affidavit of change of name and the newspaper publication to that effect, the petitioner wrote: “I am a Muslim by faith and religion. I am an indigene of Ugwu Anama, Mbu in Isi-Uzo LGA of Enugu State. My native name is Friday Nnaji. After I converted to the Islamic religion and faith in 1998, I started bearing Ahmed Sani Ibrahim as my Islamic name.
“I am the promoter and majority shareholder of Ugwu Anama Farm Ltd. The other shareholders of the company are Ibrahim Hassan, my Islamic adopted son, and also a director of the company; Layusat Shehu Jibril, one of my wives and a director of the company; Zainab Sani Ahmad, one of my wives; Mariyam Said, my Islamic adopted daughter, and Ahmad Sani Ibrahim, my biological son.
“While Engr. Samuel Chimaobi Ugwuede is from the same Mbu community as I, Mr Ede Simon Onyema is from Eha-Amufu, another community in my Isi-Uzo LGA. Both of them know me very well.”
There had been an uproar in Enugu State over claims by the people that the state government was planning to give land to some non-natives for the purpose of cattle ranching. Though officials of the state have variously denied the claim, opposition to the alleged plan kept echoing even across the southeast geo-political zone. All governors in the zone have been warned against carrying out such plans, particularly for an area that has limited land area.
The suspicion over the intentions of Mr. Ibrahim and the state government appears to emanate from that concern.
