The former senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, has faulted the Federal Government’s proposed establishment of Ruga settlements for herdsmen in some 12 states of the federation.
He said that establishing the settlements without ensuring a comprehensive inter-communal peace would lead to disaster.
It would be recalled that the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government had disclosed that it was working towards establishing Ruga settlements for herdsmen in 12 pilot states nationwide.
The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammadu Umar, made this known in Abuja, last Tuesday.
He said that the farm settlements, when fully established, would address incessant clashes between Fulani cattle rearers and farmers.
But reacting to the plan, yesterday, in Abuja, Sani tweeted: “Establishing a ‘Rugan Fulani’ settlement in some states where spears and swords are flying over heads and without facilitating a comprehensive inter-communal peace plan and MoU, will be a recipe for disaster. The architects of the idea are viewing the problem from their tinted windows.”
Similarly, a group known as Mutual Union of Tiv in the United Kingdom, yesterday, cautioned the Federal Government on the planned Fulani settlement in parts of Benue State, describing the project as misplaced priority.
The Publicity Secretary of the group, Salome Sulleyol Biam, in an email to newsmen in Makurdi, yesterday, warned that the imposition of Fulani settlements by the federal government without dialogue with the state government has already started causing tension in the polity.
The President of the group, Dr Kohol Iornem, warned that it was “a misplaced priority considering that we have thousands of our sons, daughters and aged parents living at IDP camps in deplorable conditions, yet, no effort has been made to relocate the IDPs to a safer and more conducive environment.
“Ironically, the issue of herdsmen is taking more prominence.
“The situation is like a married man who brings a good looking maid to the house without the consent of the wife. No sane wife will allow that, lest the good-looking maid over time takes over the household. This is the exact picture of what the federal government is doing,” the statement read.
It further urged people of the state to be law-abiding and seek intervention through the Judiciary and National Assembly before the matter gets out of hand.
It added that the federal government must, as a matter of urgency, engage with the state government to explain the nature of the land holding and how it fits with the extant grazing law in the state.