TPCN – The Ekiti State Governor has said that he does not harbor any ill feeling against the Fulanis and the herdsmen among them.
The Governor, however, noted that Ekiti state will not surrender any part of its land for the Federal Government’s proposed cattle colony.
In a series of tweets using his official twitter handle, the Governor said that it is not the business of government to set up businesses for private individuals, noting that he has never seen government construct ponds for fish farmers.
He said :“I don’t have anything against the Fulanis and the herdsmen among them. But let me state it expressly that Ekiti will not surrender its land for cattle colony”
“Cattle farming is a business and it is the duty of business owners to get tools. Does government build ponds for fish farmers?”
This is coming after weeks of bloodshed due to series of clashes between the nomadic cattle breeders and indigenous farmers in several states across the country.
The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe, had expressed the government’s willingness to end the herdsmen-farmers clashes by developing cattle colonies across the Federation, a move that has been condemned by most governors.
On the issue of protection of life, the governor said that he will never play politics with the lives of Ekiti people, stressing that protection of lives must be done anyway and which ever way.
Fayose who had earlier on provided hotlines for the indigenes of the state to report any strange movement of herdsmen in the state, met with local hunters across the state and charged them to protect the people against killers herdsmen since – according to him – he has no one in Abuja to run to.
He said: “With ranching, cattle farmers will make more money, especially from milk and those who will cultivate grass to sell to cattle farmers will also make money. Those countries where we import milk do not get the milk through nomadic cows”
In a similar vein, the Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has also expressed its unwillingness to surrender any part of the state for the proposed cattle colony.
In a statement through the special assistant to the Governor on media, the governor said that Abians as farmers do not have enough land for its indigenous farmers and so would not give out any portion of its land for cattle grazing.
