By Abiola Olawale
Amid the ethnic tension arising from by the recent conflicts between herdsmen and some Southwest communities, Adamawa-born politician and the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2019 presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba has called on all Fulani herders to stop grazing their cows on lands they didn’t acquire or rent.
The APC chieftain said there is no land that doesn’t have an owner. According to him, the land belong to various entities namely, Federal government, State governments, Local governments, companies or individuals.
He advised that the solution to the incessant herders-farmers’ clashes in the country lies in herders taking conscious, well thought-out and necessary steps to either acquire or rent lands that their cows can be ranched on.
Garba took to his Twitter account, where he called on wealthy Fulani herders to come together and acquire lands that could be used for ranching. According to him, this would help address the trespassing of locals’ farmland by herders and cows.
He tweeted: “I’m a Fulani man, but I can tell you that it doesn’t make sense for cows to be roaming the streets in 2021. Cows should be ranched on a land acquired or rented by the ranchers. By law, land can only be used through rent or purchase. Government should step forward and clear this out. I believe, to reconcile the ranging herders crisis is to open proper communication where each knows the laws of the land. All lands in Nigeria, including forests belongs to some entity, FG, SGs, LGs, Companies or Individuals. Thus no land can be used without proper authorization. The problem of the Fulani herders is a betrayal from the city Fulanis, who decided, after moving to cities, acquiring wealth and power, but forget to carry the village brothers along, leaving them in a desperate situation.
“The rich Fulanis must come together and get ranching lands. Land issues is as old as humanity, no any state power can give land to anyone where the land is been identified with owners for generations, without purchasing or renting. The rich Fulani’s must come together and assist our fellow brothers to get ranching land or forest for grazing. Else, this will be a breeding ground for a circlical conflicts, a very ripe situation for civil war. This must be avoided at all cost.”
It would be recalled that Garba, 38, is a Nigerian entrepreneur, Internet Technology (IT) expert, business consultant, politician and the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the IPI solutions Nigeria Limited. He was a presidential aspirant in the 2019 election under the APC. He hails from Adamawa.
