Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari has told people from the middle belt of Nigeria, that they should be willing to give up their ancestral land for cattle ranches to avoid untimely death, watch video below - Mr. Adepoju wrote and exhorted his readers to watch attached video. To begin with, there is no accompanying video link below which Mr. Adepoju exhorted his readers to watch in oder to back up his attribution of the statement to President Muhammadu Buhari. So, Mr. Oluwatoyin Adepoju is falsely attributing to President Buhari the statement he has never made.
However, Mr. Adepoju attached a link to the online Nigerian Vanguard where the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media, Mr. Femi Adesina, was said to have appeared in person in an AIT morning programme. Asked about the ancestral attachment of the people in the States of Nigeria to their lands, Mr. Adesina was said to have responded, ''Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter?'' In the absence of the video clip of the interview, I doubt if Mr. Adesina would admonish a property owner to relinquish part of it to an intruder to avoid being killed, partly because staying alive is better than being killed and partly because the property will be useless to the owner after death. At face value, the statement credited to Mr. Adesina is crude, raw, reckless and irresponsible because it is equal to telling a landlord of a house to accommodate a homeless otherwise the homeless has the right to kill the landlord. Further reading of the statement attributed to Mr. Adeshina by the online Nigerian Vanguard, it was very clear that his view on ancestral lands was personal to him and did not represent official policy.
Hear him, "The National Economic Council that recommended ranching didn't just legislate it, there were recommendations. So, if your State does not have land for ranching, it is understandable, not every State will have land for ranches. But where you have and you can do something, please do it for peace. What will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?'' From the aforesaid, Mr. Adesina was appealing to States, and not to any self-proclaimed ancestral land owner, that have land for ranches to offer it. Ancestral land had been obliterated by the Land Use Decree of 1979 that placed land under states' governments and thenceforth anyone wishing to make use of land for any purpose in any state in Nigeria must obtain what is called Certificate Of Occupancy, popularly known in Nigeria as C of O. Although the Federal Government cannot force any state to release land for ranching, some States have actually offered land for ranching. Listen to Mr. Adesina again, "Some people are saying don't use government money to build ranches. If truly they don't have lands, that is fine, but remember that Kogi State offered 15, 000 hectares of land for cattle colony and in the midst of that offer vicious attacks were unleashed. In Plateau State, where we had the recent orgy of killings, the government (of Plateau) has offered land for ranches and I tell you that some people were interested in this thing not being resolved. A proper understanding of what Mr. Adesina said must be that the conflict in the Middle belt and elsewhere is not between herdsmen and crop farmers but between herdsmen and those who claim bushes as their ancestral land. The core of the matter, especially, in Plateau and Benue, is that a substantial number of Fulani had been permanently resident in those states with their cattle for centuries. And generation after generation of permanently resident Fulani in Benue and Plateau had grazed their cattle in the wild growing bushes of those states for ages without anyone demanding payment from them for grazing their cattle in the forest. In reality, Benue and Plateau are their home/ancestral states, yet they are politically designated as settlers and not indigenes of those states. Therefore, those who claim ancestral ownership of land do not want grazing of cattle in the wild growing bushes they claim to be theirs in the State. Why should Fulani people, whether they are herdsmen or not, be regarded as mere settlers in the States they have lived from generations to generations and not only have been paying tax but taking part in the political life of the communities in which they live?
What I find illogical in this matter is the clamour of some people against the Federal government for subsidizing livestock farming from nomadism to ranching, even when the same clamourers are aware of decades of subsidies by the Federal government to Nigeria's crop farmers in form of cash and fertilizers. Assisting all farmers, crops and livestocks, to increase production through modern methods so as to ensure food security in the country should be the focus of any responsible government. But, what one-eye clamourer complaining against subsidizing livestock farmers have failed to see are the numerous imported personal cars that have been, and are still being subsidized through import waivers granted by the federal government to companies and individuals even when the owners of those private vehicles do not have private roads to drive their private vehicles. Roads constructed and maintained by the Federal government are indirect subsidies to private car owners. Critics of government's subsidy to livestock farming, dishonestly turn blind eyes to fuel subsidies to private vehicle owners which have been conduit pipes to defraud the federal government of billions of naira annually. Concerning the so-called ancestral lands, only those who are bereaved of common sense would still want to employ that to deprive any Nigerian of his/her natural and legitimate share of Nigerian land. Land, just like the air within the geographical boundaries of Nigeria, belongs to all Nigerians. Since there is no ancestral air, there can be no ancestral land. Every Nigerian must have access to clean air to breath and space of land to live. Those who think Fulani people of Nigeria should be denied those fundamental human rights intend to commit genocide. Departing from the contents of Mr. Adesina's purported AIT's interview, a genocidal act was perpetrated in Kogi State when the state's government there offered 15,000 hectares of land for ranching. It is remarkable that the 15,000 hectares of land is not a farmland but wild bush, but those who claim ancestral attachment rampaged and unleashed deadly attacks on innocent people. The same orgy of murders were committed have in Plateau after the state's government had offered land for livestock farming. Some schizophrenics claim that suspected herdsmen were behind the recent killings in Plateau State yet, neither herdsmen nor cows were seen in the vicinities of murders. On the other hand, Mr. Adesina has ascribed the killings in Kogi, and recently in Plateau state to, some people who are against offering land for ranching. It is the duty of the government to fish out those are killing or rustling cows in the name of protecting their presumed ancestral land. https://www.tori.ng/news/100636/politicians-are-behind-the-killings-in-plateau-state.html.
 | www.tori.ng A House of Representatives member has made a startling claim on the floor of the house during plenary. | |
Skickat: den 4 juli 2018 19:47
Till: usaafricadialogue; tvoluade@gmail.com
Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Giving Land for Ranching Better than Death – Nigerian Presidency
ABUJA—The Presidency, yesterday, charged those against the administration's ranching and colony programmes for herdsmen to rethink, noting that they are better off living with the ranches and colonies than dying through the persisting conflicts. RANCHING Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, speaking on an AIT morning programme in response to a question on ancestral attachments to land said: "Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter?
The Presidency, yesterday, charged those against the administration's ranching and colony programmes for herdsmen to rethink, noting that they are better off living with the ranches and colonies than dying through the persisting conflicts.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, gave the chilling threat while speaking on an AIT morning programme.
In response to a question on ancestral attachments to land, Adesina said: "Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter?"
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment