•Fulani herdsmen
A socio-cultural organisation, the Ambassadors for Self-Determination, has warned that any attempt to reintroduce the rejected Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) in Igboland would be met with stiff resistance, even as it called on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu-led federal government not to reintroduce the initiative being canvassed by the Fulani ethnic nationality.
The group however called on the president to kill the initiative forthwith in order to save the country from more bloodshed, reports Daily Independent.
In a statement it issued in Umuahia today, the Ambassadors for Self-Determination described RUGA as a private business of individuals now being disguised as a government policy, stressing that it is not about peace or development but “a hidden plan to take over our ancestral lands and hand them over to Fulani settlers, using agriculture as an excuse”
The statement which was signed by two executive directors of the association, Messrs Ben Nwankwo and Evans Nwankwo and two members said “we the concerned people of Igbo land have said it before and we are saying it again: that there is no land for RUGA anywhere in Igbo land, not today, not tomorrow, not forever!”
Ben Nwankwo and Evans Nwankwo who are based in United States declared further that there is no land to spare in Igbo land, adding that Igbo land is small and densely populated as there are over 800 people per square kilometre, making the Igbo the most crowded region in Nigeria.
Citing reasons to justify their unreserved rejection, the Nwankwos stated that Benue State should serve as a clear example.
“Look at what happened in Benue State. People welcomed these so called herders, but today Benue has become a killing field. Over 1,800 people have been killed by armed herdsmen from 2018 to 2023, according to human rights reports.
“Even here in Igboland, Lokpanta cattle market in Abia State has become a hotbed of crime, kidnapping and killings. We don’t want that problem to spread. We cannot allow people who may become killers of our women and children tomorrow to settle on our land today”.
The statement asserted that the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has already mobilized against the policy, saying “it was Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB that first raised the alarm and stood up for our people when this RUGA and Waterways matter started under President Muhammadu Buhari.
“They educated our people, led peaceful protests and helped rural communities say no to this evil plan, even as they issued a strong warning to the governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo to steer off the attempt to romance with the policy through the back door.
“So we ask: what makes Governor Soludo think Igbo people will suddenly accept it now? The answer is simple: we will not!”
While acknowledging their uncompromising posture on the matter, the group said, “a strong warning to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State and others; stop playing with Igbo lives. Stop negotiating with our blood. You were not elected to sell our land or our future.
“We also call on all governors and politicians in the Southeast who may have collected ₦6 billion each as bribe to support this RUGA project, return the blood money now!
The people are watching. History will remember; and there will be no hiding place for anyone who betrays Igbo land.
“We Are Not Against Honest Business; let it be clear: we are not against any Igbo man or woman who wants to do livestock business. In fact, many of our people are running successful farms in Nsukka, Eke, Obollo Afor and other places. But those are private businesses on family land not federal land grabs under the cover of RUGA.
“What we reject is a plan that will turn us into strangers on our own land, where outsiders come, settle, multiply, and eventually take over our communities, that is reverse colonisation and we’ll never allow it.
“From Enugu to Ebonyi, from Abia to Anambra, from Imo to every corner of our land, let it be known: that there is no space for RUGA here. We’ll not allow our land to be given away by greedy politicians.
“Let all traditional rulers, town unions, youth groups, market women, churches, and every community stay alert. If you hear of any RUGA or Waterways plan in your area, resist it immediately.
“Our land is our life; we must defend it by every legal and peaceful means”, the statement declared.
“Let it be known that the RUGA project and the so-called National Waterways Bill are part of the same evil plan. They are trying to seize control of our lands, rivers, and streams and give them to outsiders. We rejected this plan before, and nothing has changed to make us accept it now”.
Explaining why they are rejecting the policy, both Ben and Evans Nwankwo, contended that Igbo land is small and densely populated, pointing out that the people in the region are already struggling to find land for farming, housing, and industries and so on.
“So how can anyone expect us to give out land for cows?” they asked rhetorically, adding “if the government is serious about ranching, let them go to Niger State, which has over 76,000 square kilometres of land far more than the whole of the Southeast put together”, the statement also endorsed by Chief Sylvester Onyia, President, American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), Mr Maxwell Dede and Rev Father Augustine Odimegwa, Rising Sun Group also asserted.
