Politicians and stakeholders of opposition parties have been told to stop politicizing the Bayelsa State Government over the grazing site reserve for fulani herdsmen in the state.
Making the disclosure in Yenagoa, Chairman of the Interparty Advisory Council (IPAC), Pastor Werinipre Fisi and the Chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Mr. Golden Agagowei said Governor Seriake Dickson took the decision to prevent crisis between herdsmen and farmers in the state.
The Chairmen noted that the election is over, and that it was exercise in futility to foment trouble over the Bayelsa palm site where the governor reached an agreement with stakeholders comprising security agencies, traditional rulers and community leaders to confine the herdsmen to the palm site.
They lamented that politicians of the opposition are in the habit of reading political meaning to government policies, even as they explained that the Governor did not at any time donate 1,200 hectares of land to Fulani herdsmen.
Continuing, they recall impasse that almost resulted in a clash between herdsmen and the youths of Ikibiri in Yenagoa council that was nipped in the bud by security agencies, and posited that the Governor only provided space at the Bayelsa Palm area to restrict the herdsmen and prevent their cattle from straying about and destroying peoples’ farmlands and crops.
The Chairman also averred that the multiplier effect was that government reasoned that the gesture would also boost the State’s IGR, as the herdsmen are made to pay some stipulated amount of money on the regular basis into the Government coffers.
They pointed out that beyond the revenue generation, the waste from the cattle will also serve as manure to make the soil within the Bayelsa palm estate more fertile for future cultivation.
The also condemned those planning to stage protest at the instance of opposition leaders to rethink and desist from creating trouble where none exist, stressing that it is an exercise in bad light to dent the enviable achievements of the Dickson led restoration government in the state.
The IPAC/CNPP Chairmen called the people to continue to support the governor and government as they mean well for Bayelsans and will not do anything that will place his people in a disadvantageous position politically, economically and otherwise.
He, however, enjoined Bayelsans not to entertain fear domination by herdsmen, as was the case in other parts of the country, and urged them to commend the governor for choosing an all-inclusive business arrangement that will be a win–win situation for all.
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