Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, yesterday picked holes in the presidency’s position on the ban on open grazing by governors of the southern extraction.
Specifically, Akeredolu who is chairman of the Southern Governors’ forum noted that the senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, lacks the authority to make policy statements for the federal government unless directed.
The presidential spokesperson had on Monday stated that it is very obvious that the governors had no solution to offer from their resolutions to the herder-farmer clashes that have lingered in the country for generations.
Shehu said it was “equally true that their (Southern governors’) announcement is of questionable legality, given the Constitutional right of all Nigerians to enjoy the same rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 states (and FCT) -regardless of the state of their birth or residence.”
But apparently miffed by the presidency’s assertion, Akeredolu warned Shehu and “his cohorts” to desist from hurling insults at elected representatives of the people, noting vehemently that the presidential aide must unveil the actual intentions of those he serves, who he said are definitely not the president.
Reacting to the statement, Governor Akeredolu who spoke through his senior special assistant on Special Duties, Doyin Odebowale, said, “Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travelers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy, cannot but conclude that he works, assiduously, for extraneous interests.
Akeredolu Recommends Amotekun Model For Other Regions
“Their game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.
“The declaration that the recommendations of the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, a mere political appointee like Garba Shehu, are now the “lasting solutions” which eluded all the elected representatives of the people of the Southern part of the country, exposes this man as a pitiable messenger who does not seem to understand the limits of his relevance and charge.”
Casting doubt on the relationship between shehu’s comments and the president’s true position, the governor said, “Mr. Garba Shehu just released a press statement purporting to represent the position of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the farmer-herder “clashes” and what he termed as “Deep Rooted Solutions to the herdsmen attacks.
“He also attributed a unilateral decision to the President who “clears the way for ranching and revival of forest reserves” as part of the “permanent solution to the frequent clashes between them, as well as the associated problem of the gun-wielding “killer-herdsmen”.
Akeredolu further noted that while Shehu wants to “revive forest reserves,” he “seems particularly uninterested in the current position of the same law that he and his cohorts often misinterpret to serve parochialism and greed.”
He continued: “Governors no longer have powers over the lands in their territories. They must take instructions from appointees of the Federal Government on such matters.
“It is superfluous, and that is being charitable, for anyone to remind us of the constitutional right of bona fide citizens “to enjoy rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 States (and FCT)-regardless of their state of birth and residence.
“There has never been any contention on this provision. Mr. Garba seems to have issues understanding the difference between licentious criminality and qualified rights under our law. We must continually nudge him off his current state of cognitive dissonance. His pronouncement betrays dubiety and mischief.
“Most traditional families in Nigeria have occupations. Pastoralism is not an exception. Any ethnic group still trapped in anachronism may be assisted to embrace modernity.
“Dispossessing communities of their ancestral lands, encouraging denizens of the forests to overrun lands belonging to other people and forcing alien bands of migrants on the local populace to live “side-by-side” with other communities cannot be for animal husbandry. It raises suspicion on a grand, deliberate, persistent, and insidious design to use naked force to subjugate the real owners of the land. Mr. Garba Shehu is a major supporter of the current pervasive anarchy in the land.
“His acts are those of an agent provocateur. Other closet dreamers, aspirers to colonial fantasies, must be weaned off their delusion.
“No inch of the space delineated and known, currently, as South West, and indeed the whole South will be ceded to a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise.”
FG’s Action Evidence Of Disorganised System – Afenifere
Also, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere), described the statement credited to the senior special assistant, media and publicity to President Buhari on the position of southern governors’ taken at their meeting in Asaba as evidence of a disorganized system in the country.
Secretary-general of the mainstream Yoruba group, Chief Sola Ebiseeni, in a statement issued in Akure, the Ondo state capital, said the position of presidential aide is at variants with that of the Attorney-general of the Federation and minister of Justice, Abubarkar Malami, on the issue of ban on open grazing in the country.
Ebiseni said the conflicting statements from government officials showed a disorganized system in the country.
According to him, Malami had compared banning of open grazing by the governors of the South with the banning of selling of spare parts in the North by its governors, while Shehu said the governors of the South did not proffer a solution to the insecurity in the country but played politics with the banning of the open grazing.
Afenifere, however, said Shehu’s statement should not be taken seriously as it negates the position of the federal government on the crisis between killer herdsmen and farmers in the country.
He said after reacting to Malami’s statement, he considers it infra dignitatem to still countenance Garba Shehu whose statement, “claiming the president’s authority, on the same ban on open grazing, does not only show how unorganized the Buhari government is, but also a vote of no confidence on the AG who should save the honor of his office and the legal profession by resigning pronto.”
Criticism Of Southern Governors Misplaced – Edwin Clark
On his part, elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, described the presidency’s stance on the decision of Southern governors on open grazing in their region as unfortunate.
94-year-old Clark who was a guest on ARISE News yesterday observed that the presidency’s statement depicted a president who represents a section of the country.
He also stressed that restructuring was the only, without which there would be anarchy.
He said, “Let us go back to the regional government where there will be four regions. Those four regions will govern themselves. They will have their own constitution. They will have their agent-general just like Nigeria has their own in London.”
‘Count Benue Out Of Grazing Reserves Plan’
Similarly, the Benue State government has asked the federal government to count the state out of its purported plan to commence rehabilitation work on grazing reserves in the country next month.
Governor Samuel Ortom made the state’s position in a statement by his chief press secretary, Terver Akase said.
He said, “We may not stop the Federal Government’s plan to rehabilitate grazing reserves or create cattle routes in other states, but we wish to make it clear that no land in Benue State has been gazetted for grazing routes, grazing reserves, cattle colonies and Ruga settlements”
“Based on this, I want to state categorically that Benue State is therefore not part of the grazing reserves rehabilitation programme of the Federal Government”
“We read a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in which he said the Federal Government will commence rehabilitation work on grazing reserves in the country next month.
“We find the move not only shocking and curious but also as a misplaced priority. At a time the country is worried about the worsening security situation and many Nigerians are calling for national dialogue to address the fundamental issues that have led to the present state of affairs, the Federal Government considers the reopening of cattle grazing routes as the only solution available to it, this is amazing”.
Ortom said it was now clear that there is a hidden agenda which only the presidency knows.
“Otherwise, all the regions of the country have accepted the fact that open grazing of animals is no longer fashionable and should be banned to pave way for ranching, yet, the government at the centre is insistent that grazing reserves/cattle routes must be created across the country in the 21st century,” he added.