South-East stakeholders under the aegis of the Concerned Igbo Groups have vowed to resist the implementation of any RUGA project in any part of the South-East.
The groups described the RUGA project as “reverse colonisation” and “private business” which offers no commercial value or benefit to the people of the region.
The statement released on Monday was jointly signed on behalf of the groups by Ben Nwankwo and Evans Nwankwo, Executive Directors of Ambassadors for Self-Determination, USA, Sylvester Onyia, President of American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), Maxwell Dede of Rising Sun Group and Rev Father Augustine Odimegwa.
Opposing plans by the federal government to establish RUGA settlements in the South-East, the groups alleged that the project is a hidden plan to take over their ancestral lands and hand them to Fulani settlers, using agriculture as an excuse.
The groups lamented the shortage of land in the South-East, which has over 800 people per square kilometre, making the area the most crowded region in Nigeria.
The Concerned Igbo Groups declared that there is no land for the RUGA project in the South-East.
“We, the concerned people of Igboland, have said it before, and we are saying it again, there is no land for RUGA anywhere in Igboland, not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
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“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 federal government to exercise caution on 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, Charles Soludo, to tread with caution and stop any further negotiations that have to do with RUGA, saying such would amount to an exercise in futility.
“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 bribes to support this RUGA project to return the blood money now.
“The people are watching. History will remember. And there will be no hiding place for anyone who betrays Igboland.
“We are not against any Igbo man or woman who wants to do livestock business. In fact, many of our people are running successful farms in Nsukka, Eke, Obollo Afor, and other places,” the groups added.
