Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Opposition to the planned establishment of Ruga Settlements for Fulani herdsmen by the Federal Government continued yesterday with the South-East Governors’ Forum insisting that no such settlement would be built in the zone.
The governors also said that there was no land in any part of South-East and South-South geopolitical zones for the Ruga settlement.
Some people in the South-East have accused governors of the zone of having agreed to release lands to the Federal Government for the settlement.
But yesterday, the South-East governors said the zone has no land for Ruga settlement and that the people were predominantly farmers with limited land for their agricultural activities.
The governors said part of deal with the members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) as panacea to achieving lasting peace among farmers and herdsmen was to supply grasses to herders, who would keep their cattle in the North.
Chairman of the forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Emmanuel Uzor, in a statement, categorically stated that there would be no part of the South-East that would be given out for the purpose of establishment of Ruga settlement.
He argued that the zone was purely agrarian land with limited landmass for farming and, therefore, cannot offer space for Ruga.
Umahi said that the zone actually proposed a deal with MACBAN to take their cattle to the Northern parts where grazing reserve were established long time ago and rely completely on the grasses grown in the South for feeding of their cattle.
His words: “Governor Umahi, who was the Chairman, Technical Committee on Farmers and Herdsmen’s clash carved from the National Economic Council (NEC) under the chairmanship of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, made a recommendation for revamping of the already existing grazing reserve in various parts of the North to enable farmers have unhindered access to their farmlands while herdsmen rely solely on proceeds from the farmers.
“Umahi was the Chairman of NEC sub Technical Committee on farmers and herdsmen clash and he toured the states of Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Zamfara and two other states where he made one of his recommendations to the Federal Government for revamping of grazing reserve in the North where all the cattle herders in the South will take their cattle to these places and rely on the grass that are grown in the South.
“The way it works is that the herdsmen will bring down their cows to the South-East and sell to us as meat while they will load the grasses which are grown here in the same trailer with which they transported their cows to feed their cattle in those grazing reserve which should be made comfortable for them.”
Umahi stated that with this proposed deal, herdsmen are expected to embrace anti-open grazing by returning to the ranches in the North and doing their business on the trade by barter basis of selling cows to the South and buying grass to feed their cows in the North.
The governor called for tolerance among youths of various ethnic nationalities to solve the problem of hate speech.
He advised Igbo youths to avoid insulting their leaders whom he said were doing everything possible to protect them from any form of internal and external aggression.
Also, Plateau Youths G17 group and the Plateau Youth Patriots have declared that the Federal Government’s proposed “Ruga settlement” policy would worsen social conflicts amongst crop and livestock farmers in the state.
The groups, in their separate statements issued in Jos signed by their leaders, Mr. Song Muru for Plateau G-17 and Mr. Shan Arnold for Plateau Youth Patriots rejected the move by the Federal Government to create settlements for herdsmen in selected states, including Plateau.
According to them, the policy seeks to favour one ethnic group at the expense of others and was, therefore, unacceptable.
“We see this as an act to displace indigenous natives from their ancestral lands and settlements under the guise of government scheme aimed at ensuring lasting peace and stopping the attacks on farming communities by Fulani herdsmen.
“We, therefore, warn the state and Federal Governments against proceeding with the “barbaric and outdated land-grabbing” move for national peace and security,” the youth said.
The groups cautioned that while they would be law-abiding, they would also not watch their people subjugated in their own land.
“Considering the deep seated mutual suspicions and the fragility of the security situation of the state, we wish to note that this move will further worsen the deepening crisis that has ravaged the state.
“We also join our brothers in Benue, Taraba and other states in rejecting and condemning this barbarism and outdated means of broad day land grabbing aimed at foisting “Fulani settler colonies” across the country by the Buhari-led Federal Government.”
The groups decried the situation where displaced farming communities in Riyom, Barkin and Bokkos have been left at the IDP camps without government’s attention and no efforts being made to ensure they go back to their ancestral lands by government, but the same government continues to act unconstitutionally.
