The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) was founded in 2003 through the unification of three groups led by Admiral Nyako, Dr. Femi Coker, and Dr. Shettima Mustapha at the behest of President Olusegun Obasanjo, who suggested the amalgam be called ALFAN, which later became AFAN.
The three leaders were the first set of registered members of the AFAN Board of Trustees.
Admiral Nyako, being the most politically exposed of the trio, was chosen as the President, while the others became Deputy Presidents 1 and 2, respectively.
Dr. Femi Coker was DP 1 in charge of commodity associations, while Dr. Shettima Mustapha was DP 2 in charge of administration and finance.
The drive to generate membership began with appointing important commodity leaders, such as Poultry and Maize associations, as automatic Vice Presidents of AFAN. State chapters were also formed, with chairmen and caretaker committees appointed across the 36 states and the FCT.
The state chairmen were directed to appoint caretaker committees in the various LGAs of their states.
The 774 LGA committees were further tasked with forming caretaker committees in all the wards under them.
With this structure, AFAN became an “octopus” and the umbrella body of farmers in Nigeria.
However, its constitution at the CAC had a few grey areas. It required a General Assembly of Farmers (GAF) to ratify all proclamations and decide on elections to establish legitimacy.
AFAN went through a teething period from inception, raising financial membership mass towards GAF and general elections, until its first President suddenly joined politics and won the governorship election of Adamawa State in 2007.
Naturally, Dr. Femi Coker became the Acting President and led AFAN to the Royal Agricultural Show in Coventry, UK, in late 2007, as well as the first Council of Agriculture Meeting of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration held at the NICON Noga Hilton.
HE Abdullahi Adamu had earlier formed the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), modeled after the Royal Agricultural Show in the UK. AFAN and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture became ready collaborators.
Dr. Shettima Mustapha became the Acting DG of NAFN, and AFAN became deeply involved in the preparations of the Annual Nigerian Agricultural Show, the first of which was attended by President Obasanjo in 2006.
Later, when HE Nyako had become Governor of Adamawa State, we were summoned to a meeting at AFAN headquarters in Area 11, opposite Hyatt Regency (now NICON Luxury).
Present at this meeting were HE Admiral Nyako, HE Abdullahi Adamu, Dr. Shettima Mustapha (then Minister of Defence), Rtd. General Norm (National President of Ginger Association), myself (as the newly elected PAN – Poultry Association of Nigeria – President), the late Ike Uba, the late High Chief Olaifa, Alhaji Sani Aminu (Acting AFAN Secretary of the Katsina State Chapter), Alhaji Mohmed Nagaji, Alhaji Hamza of the Yam Association, Chief Daniel Okafor, among others.
At this meeting, a National Caretaker Committee of AFAN was appointed with HE Abdullahi Adamu as Acting President. Several others were appointed Deputy Presidents and Vice Presidents, including myself as Vice President in charge of Livestock and Fisheries.
The National Caretaker Committee was given three Terms of Reference (ToRs):
- To convene a General Assembly of Farmers (GAF).
- To amend the constitution.
- To conduct general elections across all wards, LGAs, 36 states + FCT, and the National EXCO.
All these were to be done within six months.
This development did not go down well with Dr. Femi Coker, who was unjustly edged out. He went to court but lost because he was not elected in the first place.
AFAN under HE Abdullahi waxed stronger and conducted its first GAF in Adamawa State, supported by HE Admiral Nyako, then Governor of the state.
A committee chaired by Engr. Musa Marte, then Caretaker Chairman of Borno State, was given the responsibility to amend the constitution.
State chapter elections began earnestly towards fulfilling the ToRs of the National Caretaker Committee.
A second GAF was convened in Kano in 2010, supported by the then Governor, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
The elections in the states were still ongoing due to logistical challenges and were not concluded until 2013.
After these, national elections were conducted in 2014, where I was elected as National President together with about 26 other national officers.
The amended constitution provided a single term of five years for every elected office. In June 2018, we commenced state chapter elections to generate a proper electorate for the national election, which was due in 2019 when our tenure would end.
Due to logistical problems, these elections extended until June 2019. By then, elections had been conducted in 33 state chapters, including the FCT.
However, as we convened a meeting of the NWC in 2019 to propose the electoral committee to the NEC (which meets quarterly), we were rudely interrupted by the news that HE Admiral Nyako was inaugurating some strangers as caretaker national leaders of AFAN. Among them were two prominent NEC members, the newly elected FCT Chairman, the newly elected Kwara State Chapter Chairman, and the outgoing Ogun State Chapter Chairman, where elections were yet to be conducted due to outstanding payments.
We continued preparations for the election, having consulted our former President and AFAN BoT members, HE Abdullahi Adamu and Dr. Shettima Mustapha, both of whom said they were unaware of the development until our visit.
Soon after, we were served with summons by the Abuja Federal High Court for refusing to hand over to those illegally inaugurated by HE Murtala Nyako in his living room.
This was reminiscent of the same type of action against the late Dr. Femi Coker, which could not go unchallenged by duly elected executives.
We therefore responded with a counter-suit alleging the illegality of that action. However, due to COVID-19 and the pending matter in court, elections could not proceed.
In 2022, the Federal High Court upheld the elections purportedly conducted by the HE Murtala Nyako caretaker committee on April 10, 2021, even before the court gave judgment.
Through these unlawful actions, AFAN has clearly been impaired.
We therefore appealed the Federal High Court ruling, but the Court of Appeal upheld it on July 17, 2025.
We are not satisfied with this ruling and have already served notice of our appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria to the defendants through their lawyer and directly to the Court of Appeal against its ruling.
While awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision, we will continue our legitimate activities as farmer-leaders to contribute our quota to Nigeria’s quest for food security.
We have also reached out to one of our BoT members to explore the possibility of an out-of-court settlement since our tenure has lapsed, and even the tenure of those who benefitted from the April 10, 2021 ruling will soon expire.
The important point to note is that both the first duly elected President of AFAN, Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, and the factional President are evidently disqualified from seeking a second term. Therefore, stakeholders should convene a GAF to resolve this imbroglio, as allowing it to linger will further erode AFAN’s efficacy.
AFAN is not a trade group but an apolitical advocacy group whose legitimacy is to provide acceptable leadership to Nigerian farmers through advocacy only—not to defraud them by buying inputs on their behalf. Instead, AFAN must connect farmers directly to veritable service providers, allowing them access to services at fair prices.
The AFAN constitution is very clear on this, as well as its apolitical stance.
We hope and pray that AFAN will continue to thrive beyond our lifetime and not collapse in the hands of its founding fathers.
Long live AFAN! Long live our smallholder farmers!! Long live Nigeria!!!
Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, FNIA
National President
All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN)
