Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has kicked against the proposal by President Bola Tinubu to establish a ranch in Abuja, describing the project as RUGA establishment in disguise.
IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful made this known through a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday.
“IPOB strongly condemns the announcement by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu proposing the establishment of cattle ranches in Abuja, the ancestral homeland of the Gbagyi people.
“This latest ploy is nothing but RUGA repackaged, a sinister land-grabbing strategy cloaked in government policy, designed to reward killers and entrench Fulani imperial expansionism in the heart of Nigeria.
“We must remind the world that this is how the Fulani established themselves as overlords over the Hausa people, through conquest, deception, and the systematic relegation of indigenous populations.
“What began as the “need for grazing” centuries ago led to the total subjugation of proud Hausa kingdoms, the rise of alien emirates, and the transformation of indigenous owners of the land into strangers in their ancestral homes.
“Abuja is about to witness the same fate if this madness is not stopped.
“Is it not a shame that in the 21st century, the Federal Government of a country is prioritising cow colonies over education, security, and innovation? Is President Tinubu unaware that no sensible country in the world keeps cattle around its capital city?
”Let him point to any major city, from Nairobi to New Delhi, São Paulo to Seoul, where cattle are granted permanent settlements around central governance zones. This absurdity is uniquely Nigerian, and disgracefully so,” Powerful said.
He added that the ranching plan is a green light for more bloodshed. “The message to Fulani herders is clear: kill enough indigenous people and the government will reward you with their land. What kind of country incentivises ethnic cleansing? What sort of leadership transforms mass murderers into landowners? What is this if not state-sanctioned terrorism?”
Powerful added that the land around Abuja belongs to the Gbagyi people, stressing that they have no other homeland, saying to dispossess them by executive fiat is an unforgivable act of aggression and cultural genocide.
“Today, the Gbagyi are being pushed to the margins; tomorrow, there will be an Emir of Abuja. And in sixty years, just like what befell the Hausas, the Gbagi will be footnotes in history, reduced to relics of their own heritage,” he said.
He maintained that IPOB shall resist any attempt, direct or indirect to impose this toxic Fulani expansionist agenda anywhere in Biafraland. “No inch of our territory will be given for herder settlements, cattle corridors, or so-called ranching. Our forests, our villages, our farmlands are sacred to us, not bargaining chips in a federal contract of death.
“The government claims to have invested billions in rail infrastructure. Good, let cattle be ranched far away from human communities. Sambisa forest is reportedly vast enough to contain all the herds in West Africa. Let them be transported by rail, just as is done in civilised societies,” IPOB said.
“That’s how a serious nation handles its livestock economy, not by slaughtering indigenous peoples and seizing their homes under the guise of ranching.”
Powerful said IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has long provided the solution in open court that no modern society moves cattle on foot. “No progressive nation erects ranches next to homes, schools, and marketplaces. The fact that this administration cannot comprehend this basic logic is a reflection of its failure, not ours.
“IPOB stands with the Gbagyi people and every other indigenous nationality facing existential threats from Fulani neo-colonial conquest dressed up as national policy.
“Our diversity must be respected, our cultures preserved, and our ancestral lands protected. Let the killings in the name of cows stop. Let the bloodletting cease. Let Nigeria choose reason over ruin,” IPOB said.
