Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, has said his decision to protect his people from dangerous herdsmen who have reportedly been committing various kinds of crimes in the State, is not regrettable, and that he has no time to join issues with anyone who has issues with his recent actions.
The governor made the statement in response to statement by Bauchi state governor, Bala Mohammed, who insisted that Nigerians do not need permission to settle anywhere in the country.
“Land is in the hands of the state and federal governments in trust but Nigerians don’t need the permission of governors or the federal government to settle everywhere. You don’t need the permission of the governor of Bauchi or the governor of Ondo to be in the forests of Ondo if you choose to live in the forests because under Section 41 of the constitution, you are free to settle anywhere,” the Bauchi State governor had said on Friday.
The Bauchi state governor has been hailed by Miyetti Allah, for his bravery, in not being cowed like other leaders in country who have failed to defend herdsmen whom they claim are being persecuted in the Southern part of the country.
“Governor Mohammed is the only lone voice among his peers in the North to come out openly in the defense of the Fulani pastoralists that are being persecuted across many states through enactment of negative obnoxious laws against their means of livelihoods and the issuance of illegal eviction notices from their places of abode against the constitutional provisions," the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah, Engr Saleh Alhassan, said in a statement.
“Mohammed has treaded where angels are scared to tread in the past. He has taken what every politician will consider as political risk in the past by holding divergent views where others have failed or chicken out. So his current position on the herders/farmers conversation is not strange or out of context,” he said.
“Those attempting to silence him are only undertaking an exercise in futility as majority northern masses, particularly the pastoralists have seen a leader and savior at this critical time and are solidly behind him,” he added.
However, in his own reaction to Mohammed's statement, Akeredolu through his Special Assistant on New Media, Olabode Olatunde, Akeredolu urged Nigerians to disregard Mohammed’s comments.
The statement partly read, “The position of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, is not to engage or confront anyone who has the mindset of a crisis entrepreneur or war monger. Very provoking and insensitive as the statement appears, we can only err on the side of caution by advising Governor Bala Mohammed not set Nigeria on fire by his thoughts that are highly destructive and undermining national cohesion.
“Nigerians should ignore him and rather focus on those issues that can bring about peace and engender unity.”