I thought I had heard all there was to hear until Monday, July 2, 2018 when the Buhari Presidency came down hard on all those opposed to the administration’s cattle colony project.
Speaking on a morning show on Africa Independence Television, Femi Adesina, Mr. Buhari’s spokesman said giving land for ranching is better than death!
In fact, his exact words were as follows:
“Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter?”
Going further, Femi Adesina opined thus:
“Where you have land and you can do something, please do for peace. What will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?”
To give some perspective, Femi is talking about the deaths from herdsmen killings which, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, have hit 20,000 in the last three years.
The solution offered by the Buhari government to this problem was for the federal government and individual states to use public funds and public lands to build cattle colonies (or ranches depending on who you are referring to) for herdsmen.
Many Nigerians have thankfully rejected this ludicrous proposition, and it is because of them that Femi went on this show.
How can the Presidency say ‘giving land for ranching is better than death’? Is that a threat to Nigerians? Is that the agenda behind these killings? What type of government allows criminals profit from their criminality?
An APC Governor gave herdsmen money now an APC President wants to give them land! Did Kogi and Plateau states not agree to give free land to herdsmen for ranching? Has it stopped the killings there? You do not appease a crocodile by giving it your children or else it will eat them and still eat you! Government exists to secure its citizens not to reward terrorists!
That comment by Femi Adesina is another reminder that many have issues but only few are roaming the streets.
I thought it was only armed robbers that say ‘your money or your life’. I never knew a government could say ‘your land or your life’! Ask yourself what right Buhari has to be in power if the only way he can guarantee the lives of Nigerians is if they give their ancestral lands to herdsmen.
How can I be expected to give out the land in which my great great grandfather, great grandfather and grandfather are buried on just to placate marauding herdsmen?
If Femi Adesina truly believes that giving land for ranching is better than death, he should prove it by surrendering his own house and land for cattle colony. While he is at it, he should also provide herdsmen with his family’s ancestral land. Doesn’t Femi even have a family? Is it until he starts roaming the streets naked and stark raving mad, that his family will know he has spiritual problems?
The preamble of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, states that the purpose of the constitution shall be “promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people”.
As published by ThisDayLive