'No nation should toy with the destiny of its people through half-baked and offensive policies that fail to recognise the peculiarities of its peoples.' Nigeria Ruga RugaSettlement
The public outrage, which followed the Federal Government’s plan to surreptitiously seize lands from constituent parts of the Nigerian nation to feed the business drive of Fulani herdsmen, has been quite instructive in intergroup relations. The people have spontaneously demonstrated their power of protest through different media platforms.
In Nigeria, such a proposal is akin to pouring petrol on fire because of the incipient divisions that have become entrenched in the country. Needless to say, the violent and atrocious activities of Fulani herdsmen across the land have not endeared them to the other nationalities, which make up the Nigerian nation. The fact that some of them have Malian or Chadian background makes the proposition more frightening, unacceptable and offensive.
While the storm lasted, questions were asked if there was any law to back Ruga. Ruga is a Fulani word for settlement and the puzzle increases when we begin to wonder the wisdom behind foisting an alien cultural practice with an alien name on a people with a different background. It has since come to light that Ruga was surreptitiously gazetted in May 2019 without consultation or a public hearing. No one has been able to present the gazette in public.
It behoves us to remind all elected and appointed representatives of the people that they are accountable to the people. No state governor or senator should appropriate to himself the power of ceding public property and the communal wealth to further their own ambition or please some temporary power holders at the centre. It was so disgraceful to watch some governors speak from both sides of their mouths as it were while the people who elected them stood firmly on the side of truth and fairness.
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