The decision of the Federal Government to reactivate old grazing routes across the country as part of measures to end herders-farmers clashes has sparked angry reactions from the governors, ethnic groups and bodies which condemn the decision as divisive and one that can lead to anarchy.
Akelicious gathered on Saturday that the decision is not on the table of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) though the president claimed he held discussions with state governors.
An authoritative source privy to the operations of the NGF, who spoke to Sunday Tribune on the directive
issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on fresh plans
to recover the grazing routes
observed that at no time did
the Governors’ Forum deliberate on the subject matter, urging that the forum
should not be dragged into
such controversy.
According to the source
who pleaded anonymity,
since the power on Land
Use as encapsulated in the
1999 Constitution is vested
in the state governors, the
NGF is insulated from taking
any decision on how each
state should run its affairs.
He, however, stressed
that the onus is on the presidency to give details of the
“recovery” of grazing routes
in order to allay fears of Nigerians.
The source further observed that the forum is a
platform where collective
decision is taken on behalf
of subnational government
rather than individual issue.
Reacting to development,
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, on Saturday, restated the opposition of the
state to RUGA settlement or
similar policy proposed by
the Federal Government.
Speaking to Sunday Tribune, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Terver
Akase, said there is no need
to have a discussion with
the Federal Government
over its renewed determination to trace old grazing
routes and hand them over
the Fulani herdsmen.
According to him, the
people and government of
Benue State a long time ago
rejected RUGA and their opposition to the programme
stands.
“The people and Benue
State government rejected
RUGA a long time ago. So,
we don’t see ourselves embracing it. There is no going
back on that,” he said.
On the money voted for
RUGA, the governor reiterated his call for the antigraft agency to probe the
RUGA contract.
According to the governor, contracts were awarded and money was appropriated for it.
“Is it not in order that
questions be asked regarding how the funds were
spent? Benue is not part of
states to rediscover grazing
route,” he said.
He said that there is no
gazetted grazing route in
Benue, adding that the president could not be referring
to the state if he actually
gave such directive.
Elder statesman and Afenifere chieftain, Pa Ayo
Adebanjo, says the Federal
Government’s renewed interest in RUGA system has
shown President Buhari has
not abandoned his quest to
take over people’s land for
cattle herders rather than
ending clashes between cattle owners and farmers.
“Does this not show that
the Federal Government has
not abandoned its quest to
take over land in states as
routes for cattle herders?
Is RUGA policy, which has
taken off in some states,
not about taking care of the
cattle herders rather than
ending their clashes with
farmers?
“We know. It is only those
who are stubborn that will
not know. All we are saying
is that, has he got the constitutional right to do so? It
is just going to cause constitutional crisis.
“Under the Land Use Act,
he cannot. The governor of
a state has the power. When
we say the man is desperate
to rule as a dictator, Nigerians think we are joking. All
he is doing now is the plan
made under the military
regime by the section of
the country controlling the
country.
“That is why we are doing
all the hue and cry. He is imposing a constitution written by some section of the
country for the country. This
is not our constitution but
an imposed constitution.
“Unless they restructure
the country now, the country will break. He is being
defiant. He cannot get that
done solely because it has
to pass through the legislative arm. Secondly, he has to
change the constitution.
“What happens to the
money the Federal Government is spending on RUGA
if they are still working
on routes for the cattle to
graze?
“The moment he still has
the power, that is what he
is doing. That is why most
of us are saying they must
change the constitution
now. He wants to commit
the nation.
“We say oil is no longer
profitable, but he is using
the money to explore oil in
the North. He is spending
the money they have not
got. And that is part of restructuring.
“If we restructure the
country and we share the
money according to derivation, he can’t use all these
monies. So, when we are
talking about restructuring,
people don’t understand.
“We are saying go back
to federalism, go back to
the constitution the founding fathers agreed to before
Independence and I could
mention the constitution
agreed to by Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe,
Tafawa Balewa.
“We cannot deny it because the constitution we
use now is imposed on us
by the military in 1966. It is
a military constitution. That
is why he is allowing the Fulani herdsmen going to every nook and cranny of the
South armed.”
Plan, invitation to anarchy —Middle Belt Forum
Also reacting, the Middle
Belt Forum (MBF) has described the directive as retrogression and an invitation
to anarchy.
This is just as the Berom
Educational and Cultural Organisation (BECO) says such
decision would trigger more
problems and further create
more routes for terrorists to
flood the country.
MBF’s national president,
Dr Bitrus Pogu, said the government was not realistic in
its directive, nothing that
rather than move the country forward, it would engender retrogression.
“This government is not
always realistic in anything
it does and this is unfortunate. Where are the cattle
routes today? Even the
Central Business District of
Abuja may be a cattle route.
Instead of moving forward,
this government is retrogressive.
“Instead of cattle ranch,
they want to create cattle
routes so that cattle from
all over West Africa will be
traversing Nigeria. Does the
government want to take
people to the medieval age?
“What is wrong with
ranching? This government
invested a lot in providing
facilities for Fulani to change
their style to ranching and
stay in one place and provide folders for their animals,” he said.
Pogu strongly advised
government to rather retrace its step and move
with modern ways of doing
things.
Also speaking, a university lecturer and secretary of
the Plateau State Ranching
Committee, Professor John
Wade, said the decision was
welcomed, but called for
dialogues among stakeholders.
According to him, what
will make the directive an
uphill task to accomplish is
that most of the routes are
no longer in existence since
they have been overtaken
by development.
“The other impossibility is
that some of the routes are
already overtaken by development. For example most
of the gigantic structures
you are seeing today like
Aso Rock, Sheraton Hotel
might have been built on old
cattle routes. So, it will be
impossible to reclaim them.
“Where the problem can
escalate is where the old
route is already overtaken
by development. It will be
difficult to just go and override them. But those routes
that are still intact and fall
within gazetted grazing reserve, these ones can be
properly utilized, developed
and integrated into the
ranching programme. It is a
question of socio-economic
conflict,” he said.
He further warned that
there must be consultation
with the stakeholders at
the different levels to avoid
problem because many of
the routes pass through one
indigenous routes or the
other.
BECO, through its leader,
Mr Gyang Dudu, said the
directive would not see the
light of day.
“The truth is that government is not being sincere;
they are directing their energy to protect one section
of the country against the
other. This will only favour
the Fulani and that is all.
The cattle business is individual business, why is government concerned about
private business? Government should avoid what will
trigger more problems; they
should think beyond old
standard,” he said.
Afenifere flays Buhari’s govt
While condemning the
decision, pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere,
described such move as an
agenda to which President
Muhammadu Buhari’s is “incorrigibly committed.”
National publicity secretary of Afenifere, Mr Yinka
Odumakin, told Sunday Tribune, that Buhari had not,
in the five years he has been
in office, shown commitment to anything that can
unite Nigerians, except playing the interest of one ethnic group against the other.
According to Afenifere’s
spokesperson, the new
move to revive the grazing
routes and reserves in pursuant of RUGA is an agenda
in Buhari’s government’s
“we” and “them” order to
which it is “incorrigibly committed.”
This was just as he said
that the Southern and
Middle- Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) was already in
court to challenge the move
to foist on the people of Nigeria such an order having
to do with grazing routes
and reserves.
Speaking further, Odumakin said the money so far
committed to RUGA meant
nothing, being proceeds
from oil and gas.
“The money they are
spending on RUGA means
nothing as it is proceeds of
oil and gas. It is the agenda
they are running that matters,” he said.
Nobody has contacted
us for discussion on grazing
route —Lagos govt
The Lagos State government has said that it is yet to
be contacted by the Federal
Government for any discussion in respect of reviving
the grazing routes and reserves across the country as
indicated in the statement
issued by the presidency.
The state Commissioner
for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso,
made this known while
speaking to Sunday Tribune
by telephone, saying that
no message has been received so far whether from
the minister or any other
source.
Omotoso, however, said
the state government would
know what to say when
such contact was eventually
made.
“No message has been
sent to Lagos, whether from
the ministers or any other
source, Lagos hasn’t got
anything yet. So, I mean if
they come to Lagos, come
to us, we know what to say.
But nobody has come to discuss anything with us,” he
said.
Buhari’s directive political
—Gan Allah
In his own reaction, the
national secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association (GAFDA), Ibrahim
Abdullahi, has described the
directive by President Buhari on RUGA as a political
statement.
Speaking in an interview
on Saturday, Abdullahi
noted that no government,
previous or current, has
taken real measure to end
the issue of grazing in the
country.
According to him, “some
people in government will
just coin phrases like RUGA,
colony and so on purportedly to bring confusion in the
land and make it look as if
these policies are meant to
benefit the Fulani alone.
“We are always at the receiving end. But no government official has contacted
us about the recent statement made by President Buhari that he wants to reclaim
grazing routes that had been
taken or destroyed.”
The Fulani leader noted that what the country
needed is a livestock development programme which
would involve every Nigerian since animal husbandry
is now a business and not
the sole right of a particular
tribe.
He alleged that the last
Minister of Agriculture,
Audu Ogbeh, compounded
the whole thing by demanding that every state should
give 500 hectares of land for
the RUGA.
“You see this is a political
statement. If you are demanding such land from
the state governments, no
governor will agree to this
demand. Whose land will
the governor take for this
project?
“Ogbeh should have
known that there are some
grazing reserves that were
created by the colonial masters. So, we all know that
these reserves were made
to serve for the rearing of
animals.
“When Sardauna came,
he paid compensation to all
the people whose land was
taken and converted them
to grazing reserves. The
1965 grazing reserves laws
provided for that.
“Now, for you to come
and say governors should
give 500 hectares while the
grazing reserves that are
supposed to be the property
of the pastorialists were not
developed or gazetted, it is
just politics or any attempt
to create confusion.
“So, all these grazing reserves should be gazetted
and then handed over to
the Fulani. Then those who
have not benefitted, it is
then you think of additional
land,” he said.
