Under the auspices of Concerned Igbo Groups, South-East stakeholders have pledged to oppose the execution of any RUGA project in the region.
The organizations referred to the RUGA project as “reverse colonization,” emphasizing that it has no economic worth or advantages for the local populace.
Additionally, they claimed that raising cattle is a private enterprise.
Sylvester Onyia, President of American Veterans of Igbo Descent, AVID; Maxwell Dede of Rising Sun Group; Rev. Father Augustine Odimegwa; and Ben and Evans Nwankwo, Executive Directors of Ambassadors for Self-Determination, USA, jointly signed the statement issued on Monday on behalf of the groups.
The groups opposed the Federal Government’s plans to build RUGA communities in the South-East, claiming that the initiative is a covert attempt to seize their ancestral lands and give them to Fulani settlers under the pretext of agriculture.
With more than 800 people per square kilometer, the South-East is the most densely populated region in Nigeria, and the groups bemoaned the lack of available land.
There is no land in the South-East for the RUGA project, according to the Concerned Igbo Groups.
“There is no land for RUGA anywhere in Igbo land—not today, not tomorrow, and never at all,” the concerned citizens of Igbo land have stated repeatedly.
“We are already struggling to find land for farming, housing, and industries. So how can anyone expect us to give out land for cows? If the government is serious about ranching, let them go to Niger State, which has over 76,000 square kilometres of land — far more than the whole of the South-East put together.
“We will resist it with everything in us. RUGA is not about peace or development. It is a private business disguised as a government policy. It is a hidden plan to take over our ancestral lands and hand them to Fulani settlers, using agriculture as an excuse,” the statement said.
The groups further expressed concern over the security implications of the project, particularly with the recent carnage and violence in Benue State which led to the destruction of lives and properties.
Urging the government to exercise caution in how it goes about the project, the groups noted that the Lokpanta cattle market in Abia State has become a hotbed of crime, kidnapping and killings and as such, they would not allow such a problem to spread or continue in the South-East.
The groups in the same vein warned Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to tread with caution and stop any further negotiations that have to do with RUGA, saying such would amount to exercise in futility.
The statement added, “We are using this medium to warn Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State. Stop playing with Igbo lives. Stop negotiating with our blood.You were not elected to sell our land or our future. We also call on all governors and politicians in the South-East who may have collected N6 billion each as bribe to support this RUGA project — return the blood money now. The people are watching. History will remember. And there will be no hiding place for anyone who betrays Igbo land.
“Any Igbo man or woman who wishes to work in the livestock industry is welcome. Numerous members of our community are actually operating prosperous farms in Nsukka, Eke, Obollo Afor, and other locations.
However, those are private companies operating on family property, not RUGA-covered federal land seizures.
We oppose a scheme that would make us strangers on our own soil, where foreigners will arrive, establish, proliferate, and finally occupy our neighborhoods. We will never tolerate such kind of reverse colonization.
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