Civil Protests Rock NASS …Anti, Pro-Saraki Groups On Parade …As Reps Flay Herdsmen, Farmers’ Clashes

L-R: Senior Human Rights Adviser to Nigeria/UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Martin Okey Ejidike, UNDP Resident Representative , Fatima Samoura, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, UNICEF Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Jean Gough and Nigeria – Country Director, United Nations Development Programme, Mr Pa Lamin Beyai, during a courtesy call on the Vice President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday

As security operatives in the National Assembly struggled to dissuade anti-Saraki protesters, who occupied the National Assembly complex in their numbers, yesterday, the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume has condemned the demonstration, stressing that it was dangerous to Nigeria’s fragile democracy.
Ndume noted that those protesting do not understand the dynamics of democracy which allows choice of leadership among contemporaries in a particular setting.
But even as the Senate leader was speaking on the anti-Saraki protest, another league of pro-Saraki  protesters, who identified themselves as members of Nigeria United for Progressives Change (NUPC), called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership to intervene in the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The group’s Chairman, Adodo Solomon, expressed anger at the manner in which the Senate President’s prosecution was hampering the smooth operations of the Senate under Saraki, noting that it was a political persecution that must not be allowed.
“Gentlemen, we are here to protest because Saraki’s prosecution was hampering the smooth operations of the Senate and Nigerians should not allow this to continue”, he opined.
The anti-Saraki protesters, made up of various civil society organisations and students, also demanded that the federal lawmakers should immediately revisit the grey areas identified in the 2016 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Apart from this, they asked 36 senators who had so far collected their own exotic jeeps to return them immediately or face the wrath of Nigerians.
The protesters marched from the Unity Fountain within the Central Area of the city to the National Assembly, a journey of about two kilometers, and forced their way to the main gate, defiling all security network mounted by regular and riot police officers.
The youth forced the main gate closed, thereby preventing staff, lawmakers and visitors from either entering or leaving the premises.
The protesters, armed with placards containing various inscriptions, vowed to seal off the federal parliament for the initial three days to see whether their demands would be met.
They also said they would resume a permanent protest that would paralyse all activities in the National Assembly until all their demands were fully met.
The group noted that from evidences available in the course of his prosecution, he has been indicted and could not continue in office.
He added that his prosecution in the tribunal was a serious distraction to his ability to handle legislative activities effectively, hence it has adverse effect on the budget that continues to generate controversies.
“The Senate President should consider the interest of Nigerians and resign because his trial at the CCT was distracting him from handling legislative activities, thereby causing endless controversies of the budget”, the group alleged.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday, said there was need for deliberate and proactive actions to end the incessant farmers and herdsmen clashes spreading across the country, noting that if not properly checked, could divide Nigeria.
Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe, has cautioned against creating grazing routes for the nomads, warning that this cannot solve the incessant clashes between the herdsmen and farmers in different states of the federation.
Dogara noted this at the opening of the public hearing on the motion on the ‘urgent need to address the incessant clashes between herdsmen, farmers and their host communities in Nigeria’ and introduction of micro irrigation (drip irrigation) for farmers in Gombi/Hong Federal Constituency in Adamawa State and in other parts of Nigeria’, held by House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services.
The speaker, who was represented by Onyema Chukwuka, urged the committee and stakeholders to make appropriate recommendations that will “go a long way in guiding the House in the enactment of appropriate legislation that will guarantee peaceful co-existence amongst the rural communities, provide affordable credit to Nigerian farmers, enable the farmer to procure fertilizer and other farm inputs with minimum effort, provide enabling environment for all season farming, ensure increased agricultural production both as a means of guaranteeing internal food security and diversifying the economy from over dependence on oil, amongst many other prospects.”
In his contribution, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbe, who expressed concern over criticism trailing the proposed importation of grasses for cattle, especially on social media, warned that the challenge may boomerang, if no concrete action is taken in checkmating the menace.
He said, “I hear there is a bill in the Senate seeking to create grazing routes, where are they grazing to, to another man’s farm”.
“Creating grazing routes is not the solution as it is known world-wide that cows kept in ranches produce better than grazing cows”.
According to him, 12 states of the federation out of the 36 states contacted by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, have already confirmed readiness to partner on the grazing and irrigation initiatives, adding that nine states have agreed to provide 5,000 hectares of land each for the project.