Benue chiefs reject the FG’s proposed settlement for the Fulani

Any intention by the federal government to construct homes and villages for Fulani herders in any area of the state would be resisted, according to the leaders of sociocultural organisations and tribal leaders in Benue State.

The recent Federal Government declaration that it intends to construct 1,000 housing units in seven states, including Benue, reeked of mischief, according to the leaders, and would not be welcomed in the state.

Iorbee Ihagh, the president general of Mzough U Tiv (MUT), and AVM Toni Adokwu (retd), the president general of Ochetoha k’Idoma (OKI), said in a joint statement that no state land would be ceded in order to build homes and colonies for Fulani herders.

The project, which the leaders claimed was a part of a larger plan to address conflicts in the north of the country and would have facilities like schools, clinics, veterinaries, and ranches for the Fulani community, was cancelled in light of the fact that over two million Benue natives still live in Internally Displaced Persons, or IDPs, camps dispersed across the state.

They bemoaned the quick manner in which the project was conceived and subsequently approved and stated that the development of such a facility in Benue State would go through a procedure that would involve the input of all stakeholders, including the state government.

The statement questioned the hasty way in which the project scaled through all the hurdles and even billed for implementation, without the state government getting a whiff of the idea from its conception, and noted that they are getting the impression that the idea may have been conceived, hatched, packaged, and given to the current administration for implementation.

According to the report, the state’s ethnic groups have vowed to stand by Governor Hyacinth Alia and refuse to transfer any land to anyone—not even the federal government—so that “oppressors” can establish communities there.

In order to allow IDPs in the state to return to their ancestral homes, the leaders urged President Bola Tinubu to halt the project and order the pertinent authorities to start the resettlement and rehabilitation process.

In order to ensure peaceful coexistence between farmers and herdsmen in the state, they called Tinubu’s attention to the situation in Moon Council Ward of Kwande LGA, where the locals had been sacked and their homes had been occupied by armed herdsmen. They pleaded with him to act quickly and support the ranching law of Benue State.