Rivers State Government has stated that it would not participate in the Federal Government’s Ruga settlements for herdsmen.
The Rivers State Government, in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, noted that the state has no land for the implementation of such a policy.
It noted that in his second term, Governor Nyesom Wike, has prioritised commercial agriculture, hence all available arable land in the state would be needed to drive commercial agriculture across the state to create employment for Rivers youths.
The state government emphasised that it has not given any approval for the sitting of Ruga settlements anywhere in Rivers State.
It added that no such approval would come from the Rivers State Government for the Ruga settlements.
The statement reiterated that Governor Nyesom Wike would continue to defend the interest of Rivers people, who have overwhelmingly rejected cattle colonies, Ruga settlements and any such policy.
“Rivers indigenes are hereby advised to join the state government to protect all arable lands by reporting any form of encroachment under whatever guise”, the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), yesterday, said the Ijaw ethnic nationality has no land for the proposed RUGA settlement for Fulani cattle rearers.
The council also admonished the governors of the six South-South states and Ondo in the South-West region not to bow to pressure from the Federal Government in their own interests.
The President of the council, Pereotubo Oweilaemi, who disclosed this in a statement, also asserted, “We reject Fulani Vigilance Group in our territory and we do not have land to accommodate foreigners.
“The desert North is big enough for the Fulanis to rear their cattle. We will not accommodate people whose ultimate goal is to carry out religious jihad against their hosts in order to establish their Islamic caliphate.
“The Fulanis, who have been terrorising the indigenous people in the Meddle Belt as well as some parts of Southern Nigeria are seen as a trojan horse to us.
“IYC rejects in its entirety the move by the Federal Government to establish the said Ruga settlement for the Fulanis. The government should not by act of omission or commission instigate ethno-religious crisis in the country.
“The genocide being perpetrated against the Middle Beltans by these Fulani warmongers under Buhari’s government has not been addressed by the latter with a determined effort.
“At the height of the killings by the Fulani terrorists, the Presidency only said the Middle Belt people should relinquish their ancestral lands to the killer herdsmen or be ready to be killed continuously. How can we cede our land to such persons, who take delight in massacring innocent people under the gleeful eyes of the Federal Government of Nigeria?
“We will not invite such trojan horses to our land in order not to betide future generations. We are warning the six governors of the South-South states together with the governor of Ondo State not to accept that dangerous proposal.
“Should any of them being politically cajoled to accept the proposal then we will take a bloody revolution against them and their imperial interest. This is not a warning. Ijaw people are ready to defend our land even with the last drop of our blood,” he added.
Oweilaemi stated, “On the Fulani Vigilance Group, our message is the same. We do not need any vigilante group by the world number four terrorist organisation. If the government of Nigeria cannot protect us, then the Ijaw nation is able to protect our lands and people.
“We are able to protect our territorial integrity to ward off internal and external aggressors, including criminal syndicates. The security of lives and property is constitutionally vested in the government.
“If , however, the government is unable to protect us, then, we will set up our own security outfits to protect our lands. President Buhari should immediately call his Fulani people to order before they set the country ablaze.
“Nigeria is on the precipice heading to the cliff. The time bomb is ticking faster than expected. The antics of the Fulani ethnic group may ignite the conflagration that will consume the entire country. Our patient is running thin,” he said.
Also, opposition has continued to mount against the Federal Government’s Ruga settlement programme for herdsmen in the country, as the South East governors insisted, yesterday, that there was no land for it in the region, even as Benue State government debunked claims by the Presidency that land had been gazetted in Benue and other states for the settlement.
This is just as Southern and Middle Belt leaders, also yesterday, challenged the Presidency to release the Ruga settlement gazette number and its content, wondering in what capacity the Federal Government gazetted land in all states of the federation.
Similarly, Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE, and Agbekoya Farmers’ Association described the proposed Ruga settlement as dead on arrival, while Benue State chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, accused the Federal Government of nursing a hidden agenda with the introduction of Ruga settlements for herdsmen in Benue and other parts of the country.
Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman of South-Easst Governors Forum, Dave Umahi, said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Uzor, that there is no plan to establish Ruga settlement in any part of the South-East and South-South zones.
He said the region did propose a deal with the members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, MACBAN, as panacea to achieving lasting peace between farmers and herdsmen.
He, however, denied any plan by governors of the zones to cede any part of their land for Ruga settlement.
He said: “There is no plan for any Ruga settlement in any part of South-East and South-South zones; but we made a proposed deal with MACBAN that can allow the zone to become very good business with sale of grasses to the herdsmen in exchange for meat.
“We actually proposed a deal with MACBAN to take their cattle to the northern parts where grazing reserves were established long time ago and rely completely on the grasses grown in the south for feeding of their cattle.” Umahi, who was chairman of the technical committee on farmers and herdsmen clash, carved from the National Economic Council headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said the committee had recommended the revamping of existing grazing reserves in Nigeria.
In another development, Renowned Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has urged the President Buhari-led government to handle the issue of RUGA settlement carefully as “there cannot be any kind of society where cattle take priority over human beings.”
Soyinka, who was a special guest at the official launch of Solution 17, an initiative geared towards youth empowerment and sustainable development, maintained that the practice of herders’ settlement across Nigeria is neither strange nor mysterious.
Fielding questions from newsmen, he said: “Ruga is going to be an exclusive issue and it had better be handled very carefully. Why is it that we fail to take our models from successful performers? There are ways in which people deal, and have dealt for decades—for centuries with cattle everywhere.
I travel everywhere. It is nothing so strange; there is nothing mysterious about cattle rearing. “Why should cattle become a problem just because we like to eat beef? I don’t understand it. There are solutions which are very simple.
“People have talked about ranching, but the ranching has got to be done in places which are environmentally congenial to that particular kind of trade and at the same time do not afflict humanity.
“What’s the point in trying to provide food and the food chokes us; which is what cattle and cattle-rearers have been doing? We have a situation where cattle walk up to my own door in Abeokuta which is supposed to be a residential area.
“There is a problem when cattle go to Ijebu-Ode and eat up Sodipe’s (a furniture maker’s) planted seedlings. And this is someone who is working towards a guaranteed environment by planting trees to replace the trees (timber) which he has used.
“And then cattle come and eat up all of that and you expect people to sit down and be quiet? “And then Buhari took such a long time. For me, he deserved—and I have written this down— to have lost the last election if only on account of the lackadaisical attitude which he took to the issue of cattle-rearers.
“People have been killed in hundreds till today and it is only because of the failure of leadership at the critical time.
“That is the most important thing and the cattle rearers have been given a sense of impunity: they kill without any compunction; they drive farmers also who are contributing to the food solution of the country away; burn their crops; eat their crops; and then you come with Ruga.
“I think there is going to be trouble in this country if this cattle-rearing issue is not handled imaginatively and with humanity as the priority. There cannot be any kind of society where cattle take priority over human beings. It is as elementary as that”.