Cattle herders
Afenifere calls FG’s proposed farm estates ‘plot to deceive Nigerians and collect land for Fulani herdsmen’
Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, the Afenifere says it is not convinced about President Muhammadu Buhari’s motive for seeking to establish ‘farm estates.’
Afenifere described the farm estates as another plot to grabs people’s lands and give same to Fulani herders.
Following the widespread ban on open grazing of cattle and other livestock being promulgated by state governments in the southern regions of the country in response to continued and violent clashes between farmers and herders, Federal Government has now sought to establish farm estates across the senatorial zones in the country as solution.
Reacting to the directive by the President on the establishment of farm estates in the 108 senatorial districts in Nigeria, Wednesday, Afenifere said the move ‘looks suspicious.’
Afenifere alleged that the plan looks like a deceptive move to acquire land for the herdsmen in other parts of the country.
It would be recalled that President Buhari had instructed the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) to fashion out modalities for the setting up of farm estates in each of the 108 senatorial districts in the country.
However, Afenifere in a statement through its Secretary-General, Mr Sola Ebiseni, questioned the directive, observing that it looks like a ‘Greek gift’ designed to take ancestral lands from the states and pass ownership to Fulani herdsmen in the future for their own private business.
The group further called attention to the fact that Nigeria’s constitution through the Land Use Act does not place control of lands in the hands of the federal government.
Rather than pursue a policy that has been rejected by many people, the pan-Yoruba group urged the Federal Government to focus on proffering practical solutions to the insecurity raging in the country rather than attempting to force the interest of a section on the entire citizens of Nigeria.
Afenifere, therefore, called on the Federal Government ‘to mobilize and deal with the bandits, terrorists and kidnappers killing people and destroying property all over the country.’
