Farm Dispute: Lawyers Accuse Abia Commissioner Of Bowing To Pressure

Lawyers to Melody’s Farm Ltd have accused the Abia State commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals Resources, Philemon Asonye Ogbonna, of attempting to reopen a case against the company’s poultry farm despite a valid environmental certificate and multiple pending court cases on the matter.

In a letter dated June 15, 2026, to the commissioner, Nkemakolam Okoro of Dynamic Option Chambers, said its client, Melody’s Farm Ltd, was startled to receive a call from the ministry regarding its poultry farm in Agbaragwu, Isialangwa South local government area, given that the same ministry had issued the farm an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate in January 2026, following a report running over 200 pages.

The firm noted that under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, such certificates are valid for three years.

According to the letter, the renewed scrutiny followed persistent efforts by one Cyril Ahukanna Ishmael — whom the firm describes as acting through political pressure on ministry officials — to shut down the farm, despite several court cases on the dispute before the bench.

The letter lists three suits it says Ishmael filed or instigated: a nuisance suit against a Melody’s Farm shareholder, Dr Nwambuisi Elelenta Elele, at the High Court of Isialangwa North; a suit compelling the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) to investigate the farm over the same nuisance claim and a criminal charge against Elele at the Magistrate Court, Okpualangwa.

The firm also said ASEPA issued an abatement notice to the farm in March, despite Ishmael’s own suit against the agency being pending, and that a further notice followed in June over a fresh petition from Ishmael, both of which the firm says it responded to in writing.

In response, the law firm said it had filed five separate suits on behalf of the farm and its shareholders, including fundamental rights actions against Ishmael and others, and judicial review proceedings against the Isialangwa North Local Government Health Authority and ASEPA, challenging what it called unlawful attempts to close the farm. A separate suit accuses Ishmael of repeated trespass into the farm.

Citing the doctrine of lis pendens, the firm argued that the ministry should not interfere in matters already before the courts, warning that doing so could amount to a breach of the constitutional separation of judicial powers and an abuse of court process. It cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Agbai v. Okogbue (1991) on the principle that no party may usurp the court’s function once a matter is before it, and urged the commissioner to reconsider his position.

The allegations contained in the letter are yet to be independently verified.

Efforts to reach  Ishmael and the Ministry of Environment for comment had not yielded a response at press time.