There has been widespread condemnation, outrage on the decision of the federal government to establish what it called Ruga settlements for herdsmen across the country.President Muhammadu Buhari is said to have approved the establishment of Ruga settlements for herdsmen across the 36 states of the country, in a bid to put an end to open grazing by herdsmen and end herdsmen-farmers’ clashes across the country.

It is widely believed that the presidential approval of the Ruga settlements across the 36 states means that each state would give out lands which will serve as settlement for herdsmen. This has generated a new round of outrage on this matter across the country. This issue has been a thorny one since the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. Early in the life of his administration, there was a plan to establish cattle colonies across the country. The outrage that greeted that plan made government to put it off only to come up with a new name of RUGA for the same purpose than Nigerians rose against.

Little wonder all South-East state governors and three other governors rejected the Ruga settlements, saying they would not give out their land for herdsmen’s settlements in their states.

It is believed that former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh is the brain behind the RUGA. This was his selfish agenda to keep his name in the good books of President Buhari so as to retain his position in his cabinet. But the outrage is heavy forcing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was accused by a section of the society of being the mastermind to distance himself from the Ruga plan.
Unfortunately too, despite the outrage and harsh criticism, the Federal Government is said to be ready to commence the pilot phase of the project in 11 states including Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Kogi, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, and Niger.

The greatest fear against the Ruga plan is the fact that the Fulani herdsmen have been implicated in the killings and kidnappings with impunity of innocent people going on across the country. They have not also hidden their disdain for other nationals. They are also suspected to have a bigger plan to islamise Nigeria with the RUGA or cattle colony agenda. This is the biggest fear and government has not helped matters as their explanations, body movement and programs have not assuaged millions of Nigerian Christians and other religious adherents who stand on the constitutional ground that Nigeria is a circular state. The desperation of the federal government to spend public money on the businesses of the Fulanis without also a corresponding spending of public money on other ethnic nationalities’ businesses re-enforces these fears which the government is also not able to rationalize.

It does seem that Nigeria is gradually slipping into another major ethno-religious crisis that will blow no one any good. There have been push by some powerful northerners to push some religious and ethnic agenda down the south and the signs are quite ominous. The spate of killings by herdsmen across the country has reached alarming rate and now calls for action. These are not times for pretenses.

Last week, some youths in Okada junction area in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, staged a demonstration over the killing of an indigene by suspected herdsmen and in the process went into the bush and sacked the camps of the herdsmen.

The youths were said to have marched through the junction town of Ofumwengbe, demanding that the herdsmen leave the town. The road was barricaded by the protesters, who carried leaves in solidarity, causing traffic jam on the busy road, which connects the nation’s commercial city of Lagos to the East and Niger Delta. It was gathered that the herdsmen ran for their lives on sighting the mob chanting solidarity songs, insisting that the herders should vacate the community, which has lately become notorious for kidnapping.

Along the Ekpoma- Auchi road, Benin-Lokoja-Abuja roads, there have been reported cases of kidnapping of travelers and taking hordes if innocent citizens from the roads and marching them for hours into the hideouts by suspected herdsmen. This has also been reported along the Abuja-Kaduna express Road as well as in Oyo and Ekiti states. This new crimewaves by suspected herders is worrisome and efforts must be made by President Muhammadu Buhari and the security chiefs to end this madness so that it does not result into a second civil war in Nigeria.

The South-East Governors Forum has reacted to lingering controversies surrounding the alleged proposal by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to organize local vigilance groups in the South-East. David Umahi According to MACBAN, the proposal is to assist leaders in the zone curtail menace of crime and criminal activities in the area. But the South-East East Governors Forum has denied ever being ready to allow such suggestions come to fruition in the zone. Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi and Chairman of the forum in a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Emmanuel Uzor recently in Abakaliki described the allegation of the governors allowing MACBAN to form vigilance group as strange.

President Muhammadu Buhari must know that Nigeria is a circular state. He should recall that he assured that he is the President of all Nigerians. He is not just the President of the Fulanis, his ethnic nation, but President of all Nigerians to include all those who voted for him and those who did not vote for him. He should not be the one to preside over a second civil war in Nigeria. President Buhari and the section of the North who are behind the Ruga and Islamization plot should understand that no nation survives two civil wars.

Going forward, I expect President Muhammadu Buhari and his security chiefs to arrest the current spate of killings and kidnappings across the country. They should put an end to the plot to fund the businesses of cattle herders. If any herdsman wants to set up a ranch, he/she should properly apply to the relevant authorities in the state, or to individuals who own such lands and obtain their approval and pay for the land and go into ranching as it is practiced in other nations of the world. Ours cannot be an exception. Government cannot use public money to fund the businesses of private persons just because they are of the same ethnic groups as the President. This is the truth of the matter and I dare submit that we do not want the Ruga agenda in any part of Edo State or South-South Nigeria.
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• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State.