HERDSMEN ATTACKS: Buhari has not showed any initiative —Falae

Elder statesman and erstwhile Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Olu Falae, has expressed disappointment in President Muhammadu Buhari over his perceived silence and inaction concerning the activities of rampaging herdsmen across the country.

According to him, the president has not taken any initiative so far on the issue, nor has he assured Nigerians that the matter can be handled properly.

He said that Buhari “has failed to assure Nigerians that both the herdsmen and us can live together in peace without one side damaging the other, adding that he was disappointed not having heard measures he was making to bring a lasting solution to the menace.

The one-time presidential candidate stated this when he spoke with newsmen on the heels of his farm being set ablaze by suspected herdsmen on Sunday evening.

He said, “My farm has been destroyed five times within three years and it’s a deliberate means to probably kill me, run me out of business and away from the farmland which is not possible.”

On the proposal by the Federal Government to set up cattle colonies, he said, “There shall not be cattle colonies in any part of Yorubaland. It’s a fraud.”

Responding on a question on whether he was worried by the perceived silence of Buhari on the activities of the herdsmen he said, “It is only President Buhari who can answer the question why he is silent over these Fulani herdsmen atrocities.

“I have expected him for over two years to take an initiative and make a national broadcast to his people in Nigeria and assure us that he will handle the matter by announcing effective measures that could control the rapacity of the herdsmen.

“He has failed to assure Nigerians that both the herdsmen and us can live together in peace without one side damaging the other. I am disappointed I’ve not heard this from him.

“If I were President, I would have taken the initiative because this is not a problem that cannot be solved. Many nations have gone through this, this mode of cattle rearing is universal but in the last hundred years most nations have solved the problem by adopting ranching

“Ranching in cattle farming and a legitimate and very profitable business run by private businessmen but they are trying to make my crops to feed their cattle to subsidise their own business because they are forcing me by invading my farm in the night to supply free food to their cattle and when they sell the cattle they don’t give me part of the money.

“This is a system that cannot survive and I expected the government to have stopped it, we are not saying cattle rearing should be stopped, but the cattle rearers should be assisted to set up or do their business without hurting anybody. Hurting farmers is not acceptable.

READ ALSO: Buhari makes solemn promise to Nigerians on killings by herdsmen

“What they did to my farm is not a question of cattle eating grass; it is a matter of people destroying other people’s means of livelihood consciously, maliciously and deliberately. They set the farm on fire overnight and did it one after the other.

“They burnt them, why? Cattles do not feed on palm trees; they just want to destroy my assets. This is an attack on my livelihood, on what I possess. It is continuous, they do it every year. For the agriculture people, this is an attack to our food production.

“People are afraid now to plant, they do not have guarantee that they would not destroy it. They have destroyed my ten hectares of cassava. Whoever borrows money to plant now; the asset will be ruined.”

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, was quoted as saying that herdsmen burning of the elder statesman’s farm was not the business of the Presidency.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now