Tingo: Hindenburg Caught Committing Contempt of Court in Nigeria

With a new twist in the ongoing rampage through US stock exchanges on non-US technology companies by New York bankers, a research company apparently hired by the notorious Hindenburg Research aka Hindenburg Hustle, for its alleged “short and distort” market manipulation, has been caught red-handed meddling in the affairs of the Federal High Court.

It appears that the Hindenburg’s researcher made contact with Faruk Mudi, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) hopeful of getting some negative stories about Tingo Group. Tingo Group is Nigeria’s largest agri-fintech providing essential services to 11 million farmers and now is building the special agri-processing zone in Delta State.

Tingo Group, listed on the US stock exchange, announced in June 2nd that it had provided a 3 Billion Naira loan facility to AFAN for the primary purpose of cultivating 3,000 hectares of new farming land for rice and wheat production. Following this on 6th June, the Hindenburg Hustle falsely reported that Tingo was not real and was “a scam” and caused it’s share price to fall so as to help their Wall Street banker buddies make money by previously betting on the fall. This is an illegal practice known as “short and distort”.

When the Hindenburg researcher did not get any dirt or scandal from the real President of AFAN they went to a fake one!

Despite a Federal High Court ruling which has recognised Faruk Mudi as the authentic National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), former National President, Kabir Ibrahim has in contravention of that court order continued to parade himself as the ongoing President of AFAN. He did so in March, at an event for the launch of the National Farmers Day organised by the Alliance for Science in Nairobi, Kenya amongst other occasions.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, before his Lordship Hon. Justice Taiwo had ordered in March 2022, a perpetual injunction to restrain Kabir Ibrahim from meddling in the affairs of AFAN or parading himself as an executive of AFAN. It is understood that Ibrahim and the Hindenburg researcher communicated and plotted the downfall of the AFAN president and discussed the publication of unfounded accusations. To break such an order or help another to do so is a contempt of court punishable with three months in jail.

AFAN is the umbrella organisation for co-operatives and commodities in Nigeria. At this time, when food security is of the upmost importance in our country and when President Bola Tinubu has made agriculture such a priority such meddling by US hedge funds in our organisations for short-profit is unforgivable.

The researcher is known for failed attempt to bring down the American company Herbal Life. On the back of advice given by hedge fund research companies, financier Bill Aceman lost a billion dollars on the share price of Herbal Life going down and making unproven accusations that Herbal Life was an illegal fraud. His rival financier, Carl Icahn, said that it was not a fraud and bet against him, making another fortune.

Aceman has not forgiven him. And this researcher was once again used when Hindenburg got revenge on Icahn with a very nasty report this year, which Icahn wisely described as:

“Hindenburg Research, founded by Nathan Anderson, would be more aptly named Blitzkrieg Research given its tactics of wantonly destroying property and harming innocent civilians,”

It is dangerous that Nigeria’s best commercial hope for farmer financial inclusion and the fate of our food supply has ended up in the hands of such people. Perhaps Tingo should join the Nigerian Securities Exchange instead or the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority should take up some shares and kill the shorters and make a bomb for the country in the meantime.

Nevertheless, this contempt and intervention into the authority of our courts, by money grabbing foreign researchers who would have known all that was needed to be known about the fake AFAN president, should not be tolerated.