Simple Makefile problem

[Mike Pelley]

I wish to use $(error TEXT) to fall out of the makefile if some checks
fail.  Using make 3.79.1 I tried the following:

MIKE := x
ifeq "$(MIKE)" "x"
$error(no good)
endif

all:
        echo hi


This fails on the $(error) line with "missing seperator".  I have seen a
lot of mention of this in my google searches but I cannot match any of
those to my problem.

How can I generate an error at that location?

Thanks!  Mike.