https://www.nairaland.com/6710287/president-buhari-approves-review-grazing

PRESIDENCY TURNING NIGERIA TO A COW REPUBLIC

We were shocked and disappointed to read a statement from the Presidency indicating that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch,” 368 grazing sites across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment.”

In a country where insecurity has reached an all-time high with hundreds being killed by armed herdsmen, bandits and other terrorists, the Presidency is only bordered about animals and their safety and is deploying all machinery and arsenals of government to impose grazing reserves and cattle routes on Nigerians. This is unacceptable!

The Buhari administration has turned a blind eye to the unimaginable levels of encroachment on lands belonging to Nigerians by cattle. Mr President has never come out even once to condemn activities of herdsmen and the attacks they visit on innocent people. The only time the President is heard speaking about atrocities of the herders is when he defends them.

It is now clear that the Presidency wants to plunge the country into avoidable crisis. Otherwise, what is the justification for President Buhari’s insistence that grazing reserves be established across the country when Nigerians have openly kicked against the policy and have embraced ranching in place of open grazing?

Millions of Nigerians have been displaced following attacks by armed herders and are currently suffering in IDP camps. Benue State for instance has over 1.5 million displaced people with thousands living in camps and many more forced to flee their ancestral lands to stay under dehumanizing conditions in open fields. The Buhari administration does not seem to be worried about the food crisis already ravaging the country. Farmers have been chased into IDP camps by herders and children are dying of starvation in addition to being denied education, yet what is more important to their President is the well being of cows.

We expected the pitiable condition of the displaced people to be the preoccupation of the President whom they voted in 2015 and 2019. It is unfortunate that the people’s genuine show of love, trust and votes for Mr President are being rewarded with hate, cruelty and dictatorial policies aimed at grabbing their lands to donate to herders and cows.

We challenge the Presidency to name what it has done to alleviate the plight of those displaced by herdsmen in Benue and other states since 2018.

What is the difference between the Buhari administration’s approach to insecurity and the Taliban agenda in Afghanistan? It is now evident that the government at the centre prioritizes the welfare of cattle over human beings and is bent on taking Nigeria back to the precolonial era with some snippets of a society where in the words of Thomas Hobbes, life has become 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'. The country has been turned to a cow republic by the present administration and the basic principles of equality, justice, fairness and equity which engender peace and suppress anarchy are non-existent.

President Buhari has refused to prove wrong, those who accuse him of being a Fulani President. He has instead proven that he indeed belongs to somebody. But Buhari is not the first Fulani man to be President of this country. Nigeria had Presidents Shehu Shagari and Umaru Yar’Adua who were also of Fulani ethnicity; but were Presidents for all Nigerians and treated citizens of this country fairly and equitably.

Our country has never been more divided on ethnic lines and sentiments as it is under President Buhari who was thought to be the most prepared to lead the country at this time. Under President Shagari and President Yar’Adua, Nigerians were not chided by a horde of presidential spokesmen and social media hirelings for simply expressing their views on government policies.

Perhaps Mr President is not aware that most of the northern states, including his home state Katsina and the entire southern states have unanimously rejected open grazing of livestock and approved ranching. The Presidency is therefore whipping a dead horse on the issue of grazing reserves. It is hypocritical for the Presidency to support and fund ranching in Katsina State and turn round to impose grazing reserves on other states.

Those saddled with the duty of advising Mr President have apparently failed in their responsibility. They ought to have told the President that though grazing reserves existed in some parts of the country before independence, there have been several reviews and laws which, in addition to the years of social and infrastructural development as well as population growth, have superceded and rendered the reserves null and void. Additionally, the Land Use Act provides that Governors are the custodians of all lands in their states.

The Federal Government has no constitutional right to appropriate lands for itself or anyone else for that matter without the approval of State Governors. Nigeria is practicing democracy; not despotism or feudalism. The President is obligated to listen to the yearnings of the people and lead according to the constitution. Leaders are elected to solve problems, not create more problems for the people.

Nigeria is grappling with numerous security and economic challenges that should ordinarily worry the President. The Federal Government introduced the National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP and Nigerians accepted the policy. Why has the Buhari administration dumped the programme and opted for grazing reserves and cattle routes? That is the question agitating the minds of discerning Nigerians who suspect foul play.

The Federal Government’s posture has emboldened armed Fulani herdsmen who go about maiming and killing innocent Nigerians. That the government has turned deaf ears to calls for the licensing of responsible Nigerians to own sophisticated weapons is another pointer to a hidden motive.

We also read the President’s comments yesterday at the National Security Council meeting where he threatened to sack Security Chiefs for what he termed failure to tackle insecurity in the country. Why won’t the Security Chiefs fail when the body language of the Commander-in-Chief points to a clan of sacred cows who must be spared and given protection to perpetuate evil? How will the Security Chiefs succeed when their formations are not well funded and the troops are left to confront terrorists who have superior weapons? Why will the military commanders be decisive when those who kill their personnel and other Nigerians are given preferential treatment on the pretense of “repentance”? We hope that Mr President was misquoted. But if indeed he made the statement attributed to him, he was not being fair to the security agencies.

President Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina once asked Nigerians to choose between holding onto their lands or losing their lives. What is happening now is confirmation of that threat from the Presidency. They introduced Cattle Colonies, Ruga and National Water Resources Bill but Nigerians rejected all the policies. The latest push for grazing reserves and cattle routes is surely the final onslaught against majority of Nigerians who must be deprived of their God-given lands to accommodate foreign herdsmen moving into the country for the occupation agenda.

Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly stated that there is no land for grazing reserves or cattle routes in Benue State. Though the Federal Government craftily concealed the names of the states where Mr President has ordered that grazing reserves be foisted on the people, we wish to categorically state that no part of Benue will be allocated for grazing reserves or cattle routes! The stand of the Governor is not personal; it is the collective decision of Benue people. There is no gazetted land or cattle route in Benue State. Our state should be counted out of the proposed grazing reserves programme.

If President Buhari must actualize his cattle agenda in Benue State, he should be ready to kill all of us! We know that grazing reserves and cattle routes are the only project that the President has for Nigeria, but Benue is not interested in such a project.

We are equally disappointed with members of the committee which recommended that grazing reserves be established in parts of the country. They are the real enemies of Nigeria. Theirs is hypocrisy of the highest order. Members of the committee should know that posterity will judge everyone according to their deeds here on earth. Above all, there is God.

The Buhari administration will not be in power forever.

Terver Akase
Chief Press Secretary
August 20, 2021.

I remember the banned bull sport now.

We warned about buhari. We were called names. Right now there's nothing left but to watch and pray.

Gov. Ortom,you are also expected to do more for the good people of Benue.

Criticizing Buhari shouldn't be your only achievement for 6years..

Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba for 2023...

Buhari should be careful with this ruga thing. You can't be forming deaf and dumb when Nigerians have made their stand known.
No inch of south east land is for grazing reserve. I have never killed in my life but if killing someone will preserve my ancestral land,I will gladly do so.
Time shall tell.

Ikpeyi:
Gov. Ortom,you are also expected to do more for the good people of Benue.

Criticizing Buhari shouldn't be your only achievement for 6years..

Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba for 2023...

keep quiet. Always shifting the goal post to nothing. Do you live in Benue,at this point security is more important for Benue people than whatever you want to think of.

FreedomArmy:
Buhari should be careful with this ruga thing. You can't be forming deaf and dumb when Nigerians have made their stand known.
No inch of south east land is for grazing reserve. I have never killed in my life but if killing someone will preserve my ancestral land,I will gladly do so.
Time shall tell.

But the Lands Use Act 1978, gives the Governor the power to allocate no more than 400 Hectares @ once for grazing, so which law is President Buhari breaking? Your ignorance to the provisions of the law, is always your downfall.

Ortom is angry that Buhari didn't invite him to his son wedding

its like looking for crisis instead of peace. Or encouraging secesion or agitation. who benefits in chaos. The talibans.
1. in a federal system the federating units own everything Land & natural resources but contributes % for admin and central services.
Does Buhari undrstand this.?
our method of hijacking power is unjust and dishonest. there is no No bilataral agreement between states and the centre so far. it looks like a master to a servant. But state and group leaders should keep making their voices heard till sanity of old returns.

example California stste is very rich because of its tech and only shares her revenue with washington not by force but by neccesity.

different states have different laws but you stay in a union of independent states and support the centre. that is why US is very strong. no monopoly and dorminance is reduced.

efigreat:
its like looking for crisis i stead of peace.
1. in a federal system the federading units own everything Land & natural resources but contributes % for admin and central services.
Does Buhariundrstand this.
our methtod is unjust and dishonest. No bilataral agreement between states and centre. it looks like a master to servant. But state leaders should keep making theur
example Californua is rich because of its tech and shares her revenue with washinton.
different states different law but stayes in a union of i dependent states that is why US is strong.

Was It President Buhari that drafted your constitution 1999 as Amended?

Ortom is the only nightmare of the Fulani terrorists in the North..

But may I body lend my voice to that of his Excellency the executive Governor of Benue state Samuel Ortom. Sir,the Presidency is not interested in cows ,but in Jihad and Islamization agenda,but only using cows and herding as a cover to achieve that. But I don't know why this guys in Presidency are never tired. All their tricks has always failed but they keep pushing..


I can bet with my balls that the current leadership of Aso Rock may be the reprentative of the Taliban to expand their Islamic agenda. I don't know the kind of humans this people are. Other countries are thinking technological advancement, science,and 5G. But this descendants of Usman Dan Fodio are busy thinking of religion and Islam .

Every thing about this people is bad,HalalaBad, JalalaBAD, AsadaBad,even the religion sef Bad ,so they even named a place IslamaBAD. Brethren ,IslamBad

Ortom is just using buhari name to hide is incompetence as governor

Pierocash:
Ortom is the only nightmare of the Fulani terrorists in the North..

But may I body lend my voice to that of his Excellency the executive Governor of Benue state Samuel Ortom. Sir,the Presidency is not interested in cows ,but in Jihad and Islamization agenda,but only using cows and herding as a cover to achieve that. But I don't know why this guys in Presidency are never tired. All their tricks has always failed but they keep pushing..


I can bet with my balls that the current leadership of Aso Rock may be the reprentative of the Taliban to expand their Islamic agenda. I don't know the kind of humans this people are. Other countries are thinking technological advancement, science,and 5G. But this descendants of Usman Dan Fodio are busy thinking of religion and Islam .

Every thing about this people is bad,HalalaBad, JalalaBAD, AsadaBad,even the religion sef Bad ,so they even named a place IslamaBAD. Brethren ,IslamBad

Ok you are waiting for Hausa Fulani to come & develop your state? Why haven’t you turned your state into your Utopia tech haven San Francisco? When you are seeking asylum tell immigration that you are not a terrorist, that it is only your President & his people? Mumudey.

HonNL:
https://www.nairaland.com/6710287/president-buhari-approves-review-grazing



Terver Akase
Chief Press Secretary
August 20, 2021.

Na so we see am.

Buckeyemedia1:
[s]Ok you are waiting for Hausa Fulani to come & develop your state? Why haven’t you turned your state into your Utopia tech haven San Francisco? When you are seeking asylum tell immigration that you are not a terrorist, that it is only your President & his people? Mumudey.[/s]

Who be this mumu

Buckeyemedia1:
But the Lands Use Act 1978, gives the Governor the power to allocate no more than 400 Hectares @ once for grazing, so which law is President Buhari breaking? Your ignorance to the provisions of the law, is always your downfall.

the state law superceeds federal law if done without state agreeing.
are we colonised by a misconceived federal might.
thses impunity/action breeds secesion.

So are you saying “Buhari is a Taliban” ?

Ortom my nigga

Don't Mind the Northerners. Their Waterloo is coming one day

What about you ortom? Every one of you politicians are utterly unreasonable and selfish including you. I cry for Benue state people you are governing, charity begins at home they say.

Grazing reserves might be a threat to Benue people and Nigeria as a whole but what has your administration done to give Benuens a better life away from suffering, security, infrastructure, jobs, shelter, empowerments, light, medicals, education, and so on especially to the poor-filled state? What?

In as much as I don't support the hardship and death caused by his administration, Are you saying that if one visit where you exercise Power that the people there are not complaining bitterly about you, dying, starving and having bad effects due to poor social amenities within your power? Shame to You all political elites, governors and senators. You all will be fed with the food you cooked one day. What goes around comes around.

2023 please come let's taste another administration, hopefully it will be better than what we are experiencing now. It's well with Nigeria and Nigerians home and abroad.

Ortom your balls are made of steel indeed

We at LIZARDBBQGRILLS love that Nigerians are now refugees in their own country.

We support the moves our darling daddy has made to ensure Nigeria becomes the biggest grazing reserve and refugee camp in the world.

We use this opportunity to say a happy "Sai Baba" and 4+4+4+4+4+4+4+4+4 to all the patriotic Nigerians who support this initiative.

Na wa o. Abeg make una show some love 4me with some likes. Today na my birthday

This Ortem is completely out of point, he dislike anything Buhari is doing just because of his hatred for the North and the president. What I would like to tell him is that he is too small to challenge us, who is Ortom?

Jones4190:
Ortom is angry that Buhari didn't invite him to his son wedding

Zone B

APC n Buhari is nothing but punishment to this country

Lol.....

THE IGBOS WHERE RIGHT AFTER ALL.....

3% Goes to all Niger Delta communities including NORTHERN STATES, the pipe line passes through..

NEVER RENFORCE AND REPACKAGE FAILURE BECAUSE THE BRUNT WILL SURLY DEAL WITH YOU.

efigreat:


the state law superceeds federal law if done without state agreeing.
are we colonised by a misconceived federal might.
thses impunity/action breeds secesion.

Are you an illiterate?