RE: ANA LAND - AN APOLOGY TO DENJA ABDULAHI

RE: ANA LAND - AN APOLOGY TO DENJA ABDULAHI

Photograph:Chiedu, Denja Abdullahi(Two-term President of ANA) and Mr Ojukwu,Ex-Commissioner of Police as well as former Chairman, ANA Abuja(Association of Nigerian Authors).

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" 

~ Mathew 5: 9, NIV)

I believe the ones who say, it’s better to be kind than to insist on being right.

Dear Denja Abdullahi,

         1)If I can recall well, I met the writer,Denja Abdullahi, shortly after I relocated from Lagos in 2008 to Abuja and since then we have had no reason for any confrontation. Indeed, we have been friends.

          2)Somehow,in 2019, the politics of leadership succession in ANA soured that friendship,as we belonged to two opposing camps. The candidate I supported made an issue of ANA Land and a lot of things were said in the heat of the electioneering that divided the membership of ANA,unfortunately.

          3)Since then, the division has widened.I wish to admit that I played a role in amplifying the issue of calling for accountability on ANA Land. In the course of this, I mentioned Denja Abdullahi’s name repeatedly because I believed he should have something to say to inform members of ANA on dealings on ANA Land. I made statements on my Facebook page repeatedly mentioning Denja Abdullahi’s name on this issue. Specifically, I mentioned that he allegedly received some money from the ANA Developer.

         4) I hereby restate my earlier apology that I posted on my Facebook: I regret the error when I said that Denja

 Abdullahi received some money from the ANA Land Developer. I am very sorry for this very erroneous statement that I made on my Facebook page. I have realised that the information I received on this is not true in its entirety and I hereby again retract the erroneous statement. I regret the grievous harm it must have caused Denja Abdullahi as a person, a public servant, a writer and former President of ANA. 

          5) I am committed to making sure that this never happens again. I will not do anything to impugn your reputation my dear friend and fellow writer,Denja Abdullahi, as there’s no factual basis for casting aspersions on your person. This error is truly regretted. 

         6) I believe that as citizens and as writers we are all working towards a better society and, of course, a better ANA that will serve the best interest of the largest majority of Nigerian writers. I believe my friend and fellow writer,Denja Abdullahi, has performed positive feats in this respect. I respect his achievements as a writer and as an administrator of ANA. I will continue to support all efforts to sustain these positive contributions without attacking his person or that of any other writer, for that matter. 

Best wishes,always.

Yours sincerely,

Chiedu Ezeanah,

28-08-2023

Garki, Abuja.

~With Ike Okonta;Bookdoctors Ventures(Sunny Ayewanu);Uzor Maxim Uzoatu;Nnimmo Bassey;Odia Ofeimun,