Atiku responds to Fani-Kayode’s poser over position on Ruga, northern group’s threats

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has declared his position on the issue of Ruga settlement for herders and the 30 day ultimatum northern groups handed to governors for rejecting the programme.

Atiku made his position known in response to three questions a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode threw at him, challenging him to declare his position on the troubling issues.

South East governors and many of their counterparts from the South West and South-South had unequivocally rejected Federal Government moves to set up Ruga settlement for herders across the 36 states of the country.

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Unhappy with the development, a coalition of northern groups had last Wednesday asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government not to accept the rejection of the project by the governors.

The group had went further to give the southern governors 30 days to change their minds and accept Ruga in their various states, or face their next line of action, an action they did not disclose.

In a post on his official Twitter handle Friday night, Fani-Kayode had said, “I have three questions for @atiku, the man who I believe won the 2019 presidential election.

“1. What is your position on RUGA?

“2. Why have you not said one word about it?

“3. What is your position on the threat and 30-day ultimatum made by Arewa youths against southerners?”

Responding through his official Twitter handle, Atiku replied, “My position on Ruga is the same as articulated by the governors elected under the banner of my party, the PDP. My position has been well iterated by our governors and the PDP is one. I will not dignify that threat with a response. There is no North or South. There is just Nigeria.”

In his reply to Atiku’s response, Fani-Kayode tweeted, “Thanks for your prompt response to my question. The problem is that there is a division of opinion on regional lines within the PDP governors on this. Some northern PDP governors like Mohammed and Tambuwal are for it whilst all Middle Belt and southern PDP governors are against it.”

 

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