- Senator Danjuma Laah has kicked against the plan by the federal government to build cattle colonies for herdsmen
- Laah, who represents Southern Kaduna, said the region has no land to give out to herdsmen
- The senator called on the federal government to crack down on killer herdsmen rather than build colonies for them
Senator Danjuma Laah representing Kaduna South senatorial district has rejected the federal government’s plan to build cattle colonies in his senatorial district, and other part of Nigeria as a way to end farmers/herdsmen clashes.
The senator, who was elected under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the people of southern Kaduna have suffered so much attacks from killer herdsmen and the district cannot afford to give out land to its attackers, Premium Times reports.
He said: “The population of Southern Kaduna is fast increasing with equal demands new farmlands, animal rearing and other land uses for now and in the future.
“Ask us for lands to site universities, government institutions etc. We are willing to give out our lands in partnership with industrialists, mechanised farming, estate developments and all positive social and economic endeavours that are of mutual benefits to everyone.
“No land in Southern Kaduna is free again for the exclusive economic benefit of a group of people who have paid us with mass murder and destruction in scores of our settlements since 2011 for humanely accommodating them and their forebears.
“Herdsmen are rich and can afford to negotiate and buy lands from willing farmers to ranch their animals as is the practice in modern times, since pastoralism is regarded as backward and prone to conflicts."
Laah asked the federal government to bring the violent herdsmen to justice rather than demand herdsmen to build colonies for them.
“We have co-habited for very long with Fulani herdsmen without the kind of strange and evil relation that their presence has suddenly turned into in many communities of Southern Kaduna. Herdsmen, their cattle and our people have fared even better in the past when we peacefully lived together in affected communities.
“It is still possible to normalise that relationships if government is sincere and serious about it, because we believe that majority of our local herdsmen are law abiding and crave for peace and development."
He added that there is a Cattle Grazing Reserve in Laduga from land taken away from indigenes of Zangon Kataf and Kachia local government areas dating back decades ago.
“It therefore, means that Southern Kaduna has already given much, much more over the needed 5000 hectares by 15 or at least 6 times the needed space for a Grazing Colony – should the size of Laduga Grazing Reserve be put at 72,000 or at 32,000 hectares.
“The solution to the strange violence developed by armed herdsmen against farming communities is not confiscation of farmers’ lands and settling those who are plundering them.
“The solution is to bring to justice those carrying out these heinous crimes and provide security for the defenceless – after all some of them have been identified and paid ‘compensation’ by Kaduna State government. When this is done, sincere dialogue to ending the terror may start between all stakeholders in the crisis.
“In conclusion therefore Southern Kaduna does not welcome any cattle colony in whatever guise.".
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