A group called Middle Belt Patriots has advised state governors not to give in to pressure from the Federal Government to give land to herders for grazing.
The group said that agreeing to such requests would make the security situation worse in the middle belt and other parts of the country.
President Bola Tinubu, while speaking at the launch of the agricultural mechanisation revolution for food security in Minna, Niger State, called on governors to give parts of the land in their states for ranching purposes.
The Middle Belt Patriots, in a statement issued on Saturday and signed by its Director of Media and Strategic Communications, Steven Kefas, questioned how the Federal Government constantly caters to the interests of the pastoralists at the expense of the indigenous population.
The Middle Belt Patriots asserted that they would resist any unfair measures aimed at dispossessing them of their natural heritage, condemning and rejecting the recent directive from the Federal Government asking state governors to make land available for grazing by herdsmen.
The group stated that the recent order from the Federal Government displays a shocking disregard for the already fragile security situation in the Middle Belt region, which has been under sustained violent attack by armed Fulani ethnic militias.
The Middle Belt Patriots strongly advised the political leaders, monarchs, and youth/community leaders of the Middle Belt region to completely disregard and refuse to obey this reckless federal directive. They warned that complying with these demands and giving up more land for grazers will only intensify the ethnic clashes, worsen the genocidal massacres, escalate the violent displacement of natives from their ancestral lands, and endanger the fragile peace in a region that has already suffered greatly.
Cattle grazing is a private business, so it's unclear why the Federal Government is insistent on taking farmlands to give to private herders. The group reminded the authorities in Abuja that pig farmers in the core northern Sharia states have to struggle, invest, and acquire land for their vocations without any unconstitutional government directives.
The group stressed that the same should apply to cattle herders—if they need land for their trade, they should approach willing farmers and residents to lease or purchase lands for grazing through legitimate means. They emphasized that no farmer or landowner should be forcefully dispossessed of their property.
The group expressed disapproval of how the Federal Government consistently caters to the interests of the pastoralists at the expense and displacement of the indigenous populations whose lands and lives are being overrun by the armed ethnic militias affiliated with the herders.
The group said that in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State only, more than 200 Kuteb villages have been attacked, with thousands forced to leave their homes and ancestral farmlands due to a serious humanitarian disaster caused by herders.
It stated, “The Kuteb people are well-known farmers whose agricultural lands and ways of making a living have been completely ruined by herders and armed violence.
“It is a complete tragedy that their pleas for security, justice, and help have been ignored, while their land grabbers and tormentors are being given more official orders to further take away from them.
“The government should immediately stop these illegal land seizures and acts of lawlessness. The cattle herders are private business operators and should be made to legally lease, buy, or negotiate grazing lands with willing landowners instead of taking lands forcefully from vulnerable indigenous populations at gunpoint.
“The Middle Belt Patriots will oppose these unacceptable measures using all legal and legitimate methods available to us.
