As reactions continue to trail eviction order handed down to Fulani herders living in Ondo forests, the National Chairman of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (Real APC), Engr. Buba Galadima on Wednesday lampooned Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu asking him to rather protect Fulani herdsmen in Ondo forests.
He described the governor as an educated illiterate, who despute being a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, didn’t know, that there was no law that allows him to evict anyone anywhere in Nigeria.
Speaking on Wednesday on AIT, Kaakaki progamme, which was monitored by CAPITAL POST in Abuja, the controversial politician said, as a lawayer, the governor ought to have known the implication of his eviction order.
Galadima argued that the statement coming from Akeredolu was more of dividing the nation as a leader rather than uniting it, insisting that it was a show of ignorance for herders to be evicted, noting that the said forests belongs to the Federal government.
“Governor Akeredolu of Ondo State who calls himself a SAN is an educated illiterate. He shouldn’t be giving such orders in the first place. All Nigerians are free to live in any part of Nigeria.
“It should be that there are such a group of people that are living in part of the country. should be protected at all costs irrespective of their tribe, ethnicity or religion.
“So also, the Fulani or any other tribe, be it in Ondo, they are under the protection of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Who owns the forest reserves? Who gazetted the ownership of the forest reserve? It was gazetted by the then Colonial masters. Once, it is gazetted, it is a Federal land and even if for instance, it is Ondo land, Nigerians are free to carry out businesses in any part of the country.
When asked what the Land Use Act 1976 says, he said, lands are vested in governors of various States to hold in trust for the people. And in Ondo, they are part of people that the Act says the governor should hold the land in trust for.
“You see, there are certain things you do; you play the law; you play morality and you play unity. On this issue, Ondo State governor supposed to play unity and it’s wrong to declare certain ethnic group ‘persona non grata’ in certain area of your State.
Engr. Buba Galadima challenged Akeredolu to engage him in media discussion on his reasons behind eviction order he served on Fulani herders in Ondo forests.
According to him, the governor has displayed the lack of leadership acumen,.noting: “We now know why there was so much acrimony even from the people in Ondo, when Akeredolu was running for a second term of office.
“He has manifested himself so well that he is not a leader.
He suggested that if the people living in Ondo forest poses security threat, they should be raided and neutralised rather than eviction.
“If what he meant was to have the Fulanis registered for easy identification which was later claimed, how would they be registered in their own country? I am not a Fulani and I am not talking for them. This kind of things should not happen.
“Of course, it is legitimate for government to try to identify the actual people who are carrying out heinous crimes, particularly in the obvious infiltration of foreigners, but not to evict.
“There is a difference between identification and eviction. What I said is that it is not right to evict anybody.
Making reference to the advice of Kano State governor, Umar Abdullahi Ganduje that herdsmen should stop migrating from one place to the other as a way of solving the menace of crisis, he said: “I don’t know how old Ganjude is, but looking at his face, I know, he is in his 70s, he should know that Fulanis are found in any of Nigeria in the last 300 years.
“Some of them in South West, South East or South-South speaks their indigenous languages more than their own dialects.
“They have adopted the culture of the people. What they have left of their culture is the rearing of cattle and I want Nigerians to understand that there is a difference between bandits who kill, who abduct and kill innocent persons and Fulani cattle herders.
“In all this, we haven’t seen any Fulani herder who keep cattles on farm and ensure the farmer is killed”, he maintained.
