Mr. Njor Asu Njor is the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, and Managing Director, MD, Two Ends Nigeria Limited and was fingered in the attack of six workers working for a fellow businessman and cocoa farmer, Mr. Mark Prince, at the 32-hectare Abonita cocoa plantation, which had been in contention. In this interview with NSAN NDOMA-NEJI, Mr. Njor refuted the allegation. Excerpts:
For the purpose of this interaction, can you tell me who you are?
My name is Njor Asu Njor, the MD of Two Ends Nigeria Limited.
Last week, newspapers were awashed with the news items that you allegedly attacked Mark Prince’s workers (Mr. Mbu Liku) at the contentious 32-hectare cocoa farm in Abonita cocoa plantation, where about six workers ended up at the General Hospital, Ikom for medical attention. What is your take on this?
It’s not me. My hands are not in that matter. That allegation is false and lies from the pit of hell, probably to drag my hard-earned reputation to the mud.
First and foremost, Mark Prince is not even having any allocation in that area. I went to Calabar between September 30 and October 4, 2024, to enable me attend to a matter that I had in court. By the publication that I read, the purported incident happened on October 2, 2024, so I have now become a spirit to be in Odukpani and at same time be in Abonita cocoa farms that is about 237 kilometres apart to attack Mark Prince’s workers?
You can see that it is a cooked story. I was in court, together with his own lawyer, the government lawyer was in court with chief Barr Mba Ukweni, SAN, were also in that court on October 2, 2024 and we came back to Ikom on October 4, 2024. And I asked, how could I have been in Odukpani and Abonita in Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State at the same time, am I a spirit? I would be grateful if a thorough investigation can be carried out by appropriate authority concerning the allegation.
I am only worried because the fellow who mentioned my name in the matter must be someone who knows me properly, he mentioned my native name, including my company name to show you that it’s a plan to drag my name to disrepute, perhaps to tarnish my good image that I spent decades to build.
There’s one Michael Ikwe, who was at the police cell for wrong doing, I was shocked to hear my name being mentioned that I abducted him and they begin to tell people in the public domain how abducted Ikwe; if not the police who came out to declare that the man had been cooling his feet at the police custody. Recently, in the same publication they’ve said that I murdered somebody, meanwhile there’s a court ruling that stated that they should allow me go about my business, you can see that it is from one lie to another.
Mark Prince has forgotten that the other man has children and most of those children are lawyers. He is only a grandson whose father hails from Southern Cameroon, meanwhile he had been laying claim to the over 32 hectares, that it belongs to his late grandfather, notwithstanding the fact that the biological children of the man are quiet. Mark Prince’s grandfather died in 1974 and the estate was established in 1976, it’s on document that he wrote to government, can a dead man write a letter. To further inform us, this same land was given to government as forest reserve and this forest reserve starts from Etomi to Agbokim and other places. it is about 50 square meters. So if you’re working within the periphery of that 50 square meters, are you encroaching? Or they have documents from forestry commission granting them permit. You, who encroached into government land is the one accusing government of encroaching into your land. The map is clearly there at the forestry commission that Cross River State government owns that parcel of land, donated by the landlord communities of Etung.
This is the first time I am hearing that a particular individual owns a forest. The Land Use Act of 1978 said that all land belongs to government. Is there any time that individual own forest.
He started by saying his grandfather wrote to government and I asked him where’s the letter that was replied. And I told us that this same man (his grandfather) died in 1974; meanwhile the cocoa estate was established in 1976. From the publication, you can see that he has a common boundary with the estate and the government had said the land in question was ceded in error. Blocks 7A 77, 7B 77, 7C 77 and Blocks 8A 77 and Block 8C 77, five good blocks.
So, who ceded a portion of the cocoa farm to him at Abonita cocoa farm, which he claimed to be a property of his late grandfather, late Chief Ogar Assam?
Government functionaries purportedly ceded that land in error and it had been revoked; the landlord community did not take that kindly, to an extent that they had no option other than dragged the state government to court.
In HM/73/2020 and this land was returned to government. There’s a court ruling, that’s why it is in court at Odukpani, instead of going for appeal, he decided to go to a court with same jurisdiction, even when it’s that same matter. I went to court on October 2, to attend to the matter because my interest was also affected.
As far as I am concerned, there’s not going to be any communal war. Reason being that I had told everyone that the same man he is claiming has Abonita cocoa farm, have biological children who are even lawyers but they are not troubling people the way Mark Prince is doing. In 2017, Ajassor people had asked the Immigration authority to repatriate this man back to his community where he comes from at Nmonajor in the Southwest Province in the Cameroon where his father hailed from, because of his troublesome nature so that he doesn’t cause a war between Agborkim and Ajassor, where his mother comes from.
His stock in trade is to be using the military to go and attack people in their farms and most times make sure that nobody goes to the farm so that he can take over peoples’ farms. Don’t be surprise that he must have gone there and met his Waterloo so you can’t attribute that to my person.
If the Army are guarding farms what happened if there is an invasion from external aggressors?
Let me tell you how wicked this fellow is, there was a time he mobilized some of his friends who are in the military to beat up one of my worker by name Effiong Asuquo, while he was working at block 7A77. As I speak with you, Effiong is yet to recovered his health. They used the butt of their guns to hit him on his head and leg seriously before subsequently handing him over to the police. If not for the Police who saw how bad his health was deteriorating and decided to rush him to the hospital for medical attention, he could have died.
The other boy, they tried to correct the leg that was dislocated, he is still receiving treatment at Oron in Akwa Ibom State.
The same military men organized by this same man called Mark Prince raided my house around 3.30 am about two months ago. They brought one young man, by name Boniface Akim, a worker at the cocoa from Agbokim, who
showed them where I reside in Ikom, they broke into my house while I was away from town on the day of that incident. They broke all the doors down and searched the whole house, luckily for me I was not at home. They said they were looking for me and one Akanchawa, who they
alledged is a gunrunner.
Besides breaking into your house and Mr. Akanachawa’s, was there any other house that they broke into?
They also broke into the warehouse used by Mr. Akanchawa to buy and store cocoa while he was away from home. They alleged they saw some locally made guns and some wraps of Indian hemps and his property carted away from his house. I don’t know whether it is court that authorized them to pack his property away from the raided home. They also arrested his younger brother after mercilessly beating him to pulp with electric baton, took him to the barracks before setting him free. You can see the kind of attitude exhibited by Mark Prince
When petitions began going to state Security Adviser, and to the Chief of Army Staff and you think government should not act because they want to please a man who is not even a complete Nigerian?
