Row over Buhari’s cash for Katsina ranch

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and a coalition of civil society groups at the weekend differed with the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Director-General Osita Okechukwu on President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of fund for the  establishment of a ranch in Katsina State.

According to thenationonlineng.net, While Ortom and the coalition, Workers and Human Rights Defenders and Mass Movement For True Democracy, Integral Development and Good Governance described Buhari’s action as hypocritical and misuse of public funds, Okechukwu said it was a welcome development.

Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari had on Thursday announced that the President had approved N6.25 billion for the state to embark on social development projects, including ranching.

“This is the first direct intervention through the state government about Federal Government’s ranch development initiative,” Masari disclosed, adding that  N5 billion out of the N6.25, billion was already in the state government’s account.

But in his reaction to the development, Ortom said if Katsina, the President home state,  could be  handed fund for ranch development, other states should be entitled to the same largesse.

He demanded that N100 billion be extended to Benue State, the epicentre of farmer-herder clashes to also commence its own ranch.

The governor also demanded an apology from Buhari for apparently accepting ranching, an idea he (Ortom) said he had trumpeted for long even when the President continued to talk about grazing routes.

Ortom, said: “It is hypocrisy for the Federal Government to approve money for ranching in a state and leave others out.

”In fact, the governor of (Katsina) State(Aminu Masari) in his remarks said N5 billion had already been remitted to their coffers. So, I begin to wonder, where are we headed.

“If the President has approved N6.25billion for Katsina State, they should also approve N100billion for Benue State with an apology to me because we started it (the call for ranching)”

The governor also stated that Nigerians were suffering and smiling today because the All Progressives Congress (APC) led-Federal Government had failed the country.

He recalled a song, ‘Suffering and Smiling,’ by the late famous Afrobeat exponent, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, saying he (Fela) spoke prophetically.

His words: ”I appreciate the late Fela Anikulakpo Kuti. He foresaw what is happening today in the country. His song titled ‘suffering and smiling’. is exactly what we are going through in Nigeria under the APC-led Federal Government.

“Today, Nigerians are truly suffering  President Jerry Chukwuokolo and Deputy, Zulu Ofoelue.

It added that “the way and manner of such approval, the speedy manner of release of fund and the purpose leave no conscious being in doubt as to the personal interest of the President is known to be a notable cattle owner..”

But VON DG Okechukwu stoutly defended the President for releasing fund for the Kaduna ranch which he described as the “poster boy of the National Livestock Transformation Plan.,”

Okechukwu, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, urged   Buhari to fast-forward ranch development nationwide because it would herald an  end to herder-farmer clashes

He pledged to donate his community land for ranch development. and counseled other states to queue behind Kastina State by providing land for the establishment of ranches.

Meanwhile, Ortom is calling on more states of the county to enact Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law to completely phase out open grazing in Nigeria.

Ortom made the call in Makurdi while delivering a keynote address at the 2021 annual law week celebration with the theme ‘Open Grazing in Nigeria: Threat to National and Food Security, National Cohesion and Sustainable Development.’

He said Nigeria was ripe for the implementation of a policy on ranching as captured in the National Livestock Transformation Plan that was adopted by the National Economic Council (NEC), which he noted would not only protect farming communities but also stop cattle rustling.

The governor urged the federal government to publicly condemn the atrocities perpetrated by armed herdsmen in Nigeria, arrest and prosecute the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Fulani socio-cultural groups who own up to killings and destruction of communities.

He said Benue vehemently stands against grazing routes and any other policy under the guise of open grazing, stressing that grazing routes are not only archaic but anti-development and retrogressive.

The governor charged lawyers to reflect soberly on the future of Nigeria with a view to making it better, pointing out that the country is in a life support and the oxygen is fast running out.

In a keynote address, the Governor of Rivers State, Barrister Nyesom Wike, represented by a senior lawyer, Barrister RC Ndefor, described open grazing as a threat to the peace and unity of the country and sued for strict implementation of the ban on open grazing.