Cattle colony, an invitation to anarchy ―Okun

AS the debates over the creation of cattle colonies across the country continued, the Okun Professionals Network (OPN), on Thursday described the move as an invitation to war and anarchy.

The group, which consist of professionals in different works of life from the Yoruba speaking parts of Kogi state, said the government should completely forget the idea and look for a better and generally acceptable way of solving the problems associated with cattle herding in the country.

The network stated thus in a statement signed by its trustees which include Lydia Balogun, Bola Sanni, Tani Osho, Bayo Onimode, Tokunbo Olorundami, Victor Oluwafemi and Segun Ologe.

According to the OPN, said establishing a colony from the land already being used for farming activities would create a bigger problem while trying to solve one.

It noted that the Federal and the Kogi state governments should seek better ways that would pacify both herders and farmers, without resort to colonizing farmlands belonging to unwilling givers.

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The group said, “We observe that cattle rearing in Nigeria today is no longer a subsistence activity/way of life for a group of people. Rather, it is a multi-billion naira private business, in which most of the cattle are owned by the high and mighty in the land politicians,  traditional rulers, retired and serving military and police officers and civil servants and so on for whom the people actually keeping the animals are working.

“Why should the government subsidize the private business interests of a tiny minority by creating cattle colonies on farmlands that should produce food for the nation?

“Establishing “cattle colonies” would, in our opinion, amount to doing to ourselves what the British did to us by colonizing us, our hard earned independence should mean more to us as people. Why is government now trying to impose a colonial status on portions of land which have been held by families and communities since time immemorial? Would these families and communities not one day rise up in an effort to gain “independence” for such portions of land?

“This approach is an invitation to war. Would not the people in the colonies one day seek to expand as the Europeans did in North America, pushing the North American Indians into enclaves? Whichever way we look at it, creating “cattle colonies” would amount to building a time bomb for our children and grandchildren.

The OPN alleged that the move had ethnicity colouration as it was meant to achieve the expansionist agenda of the Fulani.

“The Okun Professionals Network is convinced that the planned creation of “cattle colonies” in all the States of the Federation is a subtle way of beginning to actualise the dream of a Fulani hegemony over Nigeria using a state-sponsored version of the same strategy that was used during the conquests and Fulani hegemonies in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

” First establish a toehold, then a foothold, and, finally, take over. Government is perceived as unable and unwilling to control the influx of Fulani from other West African countries. Creating “cattle colonies” would only amount to establishing a toehold or even a foothold. We do not intend to fold our hands and let it happen. If we in the Okun land fail to learn from history then history will repeat itself and we shall be the losers.

“The Fulani in Okun land have been given portions of land where they presently have settlements and have lived in peace with the indigenes for a long time. We share the same stream and sell our wares in the same market. Never a time has there been any rancour or crisis in the State between herders and farmers”.

It, therefore, called on the  National and State Assemblies to take note of the rejection by the people and guard their interest over the controversial move.