Governors of the South-East states have appealed to their youths that are angry over the region’s marginalisation to give the state chief executives a period of six months to dialogue with the Federal Government with a view to resolving their grievances.
The Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, disclosed this on Thursday while featuring on the Presidential Ministerial Press Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the presidential villa, Abuja.
He pointed out that past governments failed to properly deal with the issue of marginalization, giving rise to the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and later, Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
But he assured that the region will not secede from the country.
Stressing the need to have peace in the region, Umahi said: “And so, I have offered along with governors to our youths, present your demands in prints and hand over to us.
“There’s no region in this country today, that you know do not have one thing or the other against the Federal Government. But we cannot sit down to discuss and that’s what you have demanded from our youths whether banned or unbanned in so far as you are from the South-East.
“Let us see your demands, let us see your grievances and give us six months to engage the Federal Government to address all these because I believe in dialogue.
“I believe that we can sit down as a people to discuss and find our differences, and we can learn from our differences and also we can together discuss how we can strengthen our operation as a people.”
Describing IPOB as “a child of necessity,” the governors’ forum boss stated: “Now, the ESM is also a product of IPOB.
“You can see how this has multiplied but the point remains that from the onset of matter, the past governments did not address the matter properly because when your children cry for any reason, you have to find out what is the problem, what are the reasons and you fix it.
“I think those people were so badly, ignored and that should not have been. And so, what is happening today with regards to IPOB in the South Wast is not a product of this government per se, but it is a product of national governments that didn’t address the matters from the outset.
“The IPOB people came and said we are not violent, we are not the people killing in security, if you get any of such after decisively such. So it’s very confusing. Who and who is behind these insecurities happening?”
Governor Umahi affirmed that even though the people of the southeast have justifiable grievances, their agitation has been hijacked.
He explained: “Are there rightful agitations? Yes? Has it turned violent? Yes, it’s been hijacked and that is the truth about the situation in the South-West.
“And so, the governors of South-East appear to be unpopular with a very small section of South-East. why?
Because we refuse to toe their line and be our own.
“You know the way of doing this. And their way of doing things is war, and we don’t want to secede, we want to belong to Nigeria, a fair Nigeria with justice, equity and freedom, you know, are platform upon which we exist as the people, and for each of the regions.”
Umahi also said that those kicking against the ban on open grazing as contemplated by southern states want killings to continue.
Asked to respond to the claim by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, that banning opening grazing in the south is like banning the sale of spare parts in the north, he said those who hold that view misunderstand the situation.
The governor pointed out that the south has no grazing routes, noting that allowing cows to move freely would mean trespassing on peoples property.
He said that gave rise to crises and killings, giving rise to the setting up of the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
While emphasizing that he does not subscribe to free movement of cattle, Umahi called for funding on cattle ranches through the Federation Account.
He pointed out that while many northern states are ready for ranching, the idea is being sabotaged.
The governor added: “In the South-East, we don’t have grazing routes but in the north, we have cattle routes. Nobody is going to say ban open grazing in some areas in the north where they are cattle routes, where they move constitutionally from one point to the other.
“But in the south, there is no cattle route and for you to move from one point to the other, you have to move through farms, through population-dense areas. And this is what the southern governors, southeast in particular are saying.
“Let’s go back to our traditional method of relationship, we will no longer allow you to take your cattle from one local government to the other. And the implication is that these foreign herders also come as mobile herders with AK47, and so that is the source of conflicts.
“So, anyone that is saying that there should be no ban is, on the other hand, saying that these killings should continue and that is what has birthed to ESN.
“Whether we support it as governors or we don’t, the people tend to support it because of the foreign herders pretending that they are rearing cattle and they are killing people.
“In my village, a white man handling construction was kidnapped. So, what the southern governors are saying is that let’s return to our traditional kind of relationship.
“I don’t support cattle to move from one state to the other and the northern governors have said we will ban this. Let us encourage the federal government, let’s treat this cattle rearing as a business. Take money from the federation account and develop ranches, there are designated ranches in the north.
“The northern governors are willing but are being frustrated. I know once you develop these ranches in the north a lot of movement will stop in the south.
“We want to live in peace, we want to live as brothers and sisters. And if the right hand will cause you to sin, cut it off. It is the same thing as saying let the cattle moving from one point to the other be stopped.
“Nobody is saying the herders should not be in the southeast but it should be treated as a business. When people go to other areas they buy land, they rent a shop, that is how business is done. You don’t enter people’s land without their knowledge, it is not done anywhere.
“I don’t think there is any South-East person that enters any region and sets up a business without proper permission. So, that is the truth about the open grazing thing, I think people misunderstand it, they don’t really understand what we mean.”
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