By Oginyi Ruth
The Ebonyi State government has debunked the alleged establishment of RUGA settlement in the state.
It, however, the people of the state to disregard the video/ reports alleging that RUGA had been established for Fulani herdsmen in the state.
Pictures and video over two thousand Fulani herdsmen arriving the Hausa quarters in Abakaliki had reportedly gone viral on social media since Saturday October, 2019.
The arrival of the suspected herdsmen is now raising fears among indigenes of the state.
It was gathered that some youths from Izzi area of the state rejected them and ordered that they should be taken back to the place they came from.
They were later moved to another community in the state.
In a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Barr. Uchenna Orji, on Tuesday, described the trending video, pictures and reports as the handiwork of mischief makers in the state.
According to the statement, “The posts on the 12/10/2019 gave false impressions that herders in their numbers arrived with their families to a particular village in Izzi LGA of Ebonyi State to settle, and that Ebonyi State Government has established a RUGA settlement for herdsmen.
“The State Government states in clear terms that the narratives of these online propagandists are nothing but the figment of the imagination of the mischief makers. Their online circulations are totally unfounded, absolutely irresponsible, without foundation and criminally woven to paint Ebonyi State government black before its citizenry.
“Contrary to the spiritless fabrication of these political jobbers, what happened on 12/10/2019 was the normal movement of cattle rearers who were on transit from their temporary camp at the Centenary City Abakaliki to a neighbouring state, where they have found more conducive for their Cattle’s livelihood.
“These herdsmen once camped in a government reserved area at the Centenary City, Abakaliki but when government started to develop the place for government use as agreed, the herdsmen on their volition decided to look for greener pasture elsewhere in a neighbouring state.
“This movement is well known to the Myetti Allah Association and it has nothing to do with RUGA settlement and there was never a misunderstanding leading to this voluntary decision of the herdsmen.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no specific area in any part of Ebonyi state where the State Government designated to herdsmen for cattle grazing. We have neither built a settlement where herders will live nor a settlement where they will grow their cattle or produce milk. We have no RUGA Settlement in Ebonyi State at all, and we don’t intend to have any RUGA settlement in future.”
“We have continued to build on the peace and co-existence that long existed between the farmers and the traditional cattle rearers and we have remained resolute in our enforcement of the farmers/ herders rules for the peaceful grazing of cattle in Ebonyi State.
“We know the antics of these detractors who are in the habit of twisting facts and ridiculously bending the truth to secure cheap blackmail against our government and thus attract recognition or sow a seed of discord between our government and the citizenry. But they have suffered colossal and woeful failure in their antics as their outcomes have always been stillborn.
“We chide their antics as a concoction of malicious fabrication that can only be orchestrated by empty brains who have allowed devil to use their faculties as a breeding ground and workshop for dirty dealings.
We advise these idle minds to have a change of character before it is too late, as our Government is unshaken and can never be distracted in its social contract of giving her people the best at all times”, the statement read.
