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HomeNewsFulani want to re-colonise Nigeria – Olu Falae

Fulani want to re-colonise Nigeria – Olu Falae

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Olu Falae, yesterday described the burning of his plantation at Ilado in Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State as attempt to kill him. He added that it was also part of plans to send many farmers out of business and take territories for Fulani herdsmen in different parts of the country.

Falae, whose farm was set ablaze by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Sunday, said the idea of colony being proposed as a panacea for the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen was a ploy to re-colonise other parts of the country by the Fulani hegemony. The former SGF, however, said he was lucky as he would have been killed if he was found in the farm on Sunday when it was attacked.

He said: “Element of the same people kidnapped me, when people said they were Fulani herdsmen, they said how did I know they are Fulani? But everybody knows a Fulani man in Nigeria. I have been at the receiving end for some long even after I was kidnapped, they came back and killed one of my guards and the case remains unsolved murder case.

“Every year they set my farm on fire and do you know why? There are two elements to their actions, first is economic, they burn this farm because the grass is already dry and cows don’t like that.

So they burn the grass and in two weeks’ time fresh grass will grow and their cattle will have fresh grad to eat. In order word, they are already treating my farm as if it was their colony. They do this every year.

“But to burn palm trees, it amounts to act of malice and hatred and I believe they have malice against me and they hate me; that is why they will burn my palm trees, uproot the palm trees I planted and throw the seedlings away.

That does not help the cattle in anyway; I believe if they saw me in person, it is me they would hurt.” Speaking during the assessment of the damage done to his farm, Falae said the Yoruba would not cede an inch of land for the establishment of colony.

Falae, who was the Southwest Coordinator of Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign organisation in 2007 general elections, expressed dismay that the President had not condemned the action of his kinsmen who were terrorising people in the country. The National Chairman of Social Democratic Party (SDP) said he had expected President Buhari to have made national broadcast on the menace being caused by his kinsmen. He added: “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 assuring us that he will handle the matter by announcing effective measures that could control the rapacity of the herdsmen and assure that both the herdsmen and us can live together in peace without one side damaging the other.

I am disappointed I have 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 100 years most nations have solved the problem by adopting ranching.

“Ranching is 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.

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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.”

Criticizing the idea of cattle colony, Falae said: “The proposal that colony should be established and rangers will accompany cattle moving from one colony to another is a very provocative and repugnant proposal. “The word colony is a repugnant political word because it means one group of people dominating another. The British came to Nigeria and first colonised us and made us their possession.

A colonial arrangement regards other human beings as possession of others. “An adult educated Nigerian will use that word colony to describe any part of his country that you want to bring back colonial status.

It is almost treason. It is repugnant, provocative and should be withdrawn and the person who coined it should apologise to Nigerians. “Looking at the proposal itself, assuming other term has been used; it is unsound and makes no sense.

The proposal said government will acquire an area in a state and plant grass there for the cattle to feed on. The question I want to ask is that why must the cattle travel from their ranch to another colony.

The ranch across the world is self contained, because there is water there, there is processing facilities and you don’t have to march your cattle from one colony to another colony. “There is no justification for this except you want to perpetuate Fulani herdsmen burning around our territory; we want to know the reason.

The idea that we will train rangers to accompany cows moving from one colony to another is a huge continuing unnecessary financi

al burden on the Federal government because there is no need for cattle to march from colony to colony. They have insulted the intelligence of Nigerians, it is nonsense “The solution I proposed because I spent four days with my kidnappers in the bush and I am in sympathy with their conditions.

My suggestion that day was that there were states that are home to cows, so it is those relevant state governments that should carry the burden and not the Federal Government.” The Afenifere leader said farmers were afraid to go to farm as they could be attacked or killed by herdsmen who had invaded the farmlands in different parts of the country.

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