A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Ntufam Mba Ukweni, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ededem Ani, to retract and apologise for a statement he described as defamatory.
The demand follows a public notice issued by the Attorney General on March 12, 2026, titled ‘Re: Constitution of Illegal Taskforce by Mba Ukweni SAN to Enforce Court Order in Respect of Etung Cocoa Estate’.
In the notice, Ani reportedly described Ukweni’s action as illegal, insisting the senior lawyer lacked the authority to inaugurate the taskforce.
Reacting during a press briefing in Calabar, Ukweni rejected the claim and warned that failure to withdraw the statement within seven days would stall any engagement between both parties.
“I am giving them a seven-day ultimatum to retract the statement and apologise. If that is not done, it calls into question the sincerity of any discussions they intend to have with me,” he said.
Ukweni explained that the taskforce was constituted by his law firm on behalf of cocoa farmers under the platform “Team Obey Court Order,” aimed at ensuring compliance with an existing court ruling and protecting farmers from recurring attacks.
According to him, the group was formed as a self-protection measure following repeated incidents of violence in the estate, including the killing of an allottee while working on a farm leased from the government-owned cocoa estate.
He questioned why those responsible for the killing had yet to be prosecuted, stressing that the farmers’ coordinated presence was intended to deter further attacks.
The senior lawyer maintained that a court had restrained the Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice from evicting legitimate allottees, noting that the farmers had duly paid for their allocations into government coffers.
Ukweni argued that, as a party to the suit, the Attorney General was bound to obey the subsisting court order rather than undermine its enforcement.
He warned that failure to meet the twin conditions of retraction and apology would leave his legal team with no option but to take further action.
“If we are forced to react, responsibility for any consequences will lie with him, because he knows the right thing to do,” Ukweni said, adding that he may escalate the matter to the state governor.
He reiterated that it was the constitutional duty of the Attorney General to uphold the rule of law, particularly in matters where he is directly involved.
Ukweni further assured that his law firm remained committed to protecting the interests of its clients and enforcing compliance with judicial pronouncements.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Attorney General were unsuccessful, as his telephone line was unreachable at the time of filing this report.
