by Uchechukwu Okoroafor,Abuja
The governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, wants to set up a cattle ranch in the Uzo-Uwani local government area of the state. The people of Uzo-Uwani are suspicious of the project. They say it is a ploy by the governor to hand their ancestral land to Fulani herdsmen. And that they are not ready to be part of it. But it appears the governor is determined to have his way, while the people are committed to their resolve not to surrender their land to herdsmen that they said had killed their people without any consequences. This is even as Ohanaeze is against using South East land for such controversial projects, which they suspect, right from former President Muhammadu Buhari, is a ploy for land grabbing for Fulani.
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Recently, the Uzo-Uwani Professionals Association (UZPA) joined forces with those opposed to the project. The UZPA expressed strong opposition to the proposed ranch project by the state government in the Nimbo community in Enugu State.
In a statement, UZPA described the project as insensitive, abrasive, and a violation of the psyche of the people of Uzo-Uwani, who are predominantly crop farmers and timber merchants.
The statement, signed by the UZPA president, Chinedum Odenyi, and the secretary-general, Dan Asogwa, said governor Peter Mbah was treating Uzo-Uwani with levity, disdain, and neglecting the development needs of the area.
The association recalled the massacre of scores of people in Nimbo by armed herdsmen in 2016 and wondered why the government would reward the perpetrators with a ranch in the same community.
It called on the government to immediately halt any further design and attempt to implement the ranch project in any part of Uzo-Uwani, and also urged the government to focus on tackling the insecurity and providing basic amenities for the people.
He said Uzo-Uwani people would reject the ranch project and would not lend their support to any such design, as it debases their people and invokes the memory of inflicted sadism.
The statement reads in part, “The people of Nimbo, and Uzo-Uwani in general have stoutly risen in unison in opposition to the proposal, reading a more sinister objective in the proposed project and calling on the government to stop any further exploration of the subject around the geographic entity of Uzo-Uwani LGA.
“UZPA, having considered all the reactions on the issue, finds everything wrong with the proposal and calls on the Enugu State government to immediately halt any further design and attempt to implement the proposed ranch project in any part of the Uzo-Uwani local government area.
“The Peter Mbah administration is informed that the Uzo-Uwani people reject the proposal and will not lend their support to any such design.”
We can understand the frustration people have with the project. In April 2016, as reported by Vanguard Newspaper with the headline “Bloodbath in Enugu as Fulani herdsmen kill 40”, about 40 persons were killed by some Fulani herdsmen at Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The incident took place barely 24 hours after stories filtered out that no fewer than 500 heavily-armed Fulani herdsmen sneaked into the community in preparation to launch an attack.
About seven villages in Nimbo (Nimbo Ngwoko, Ugwuijoro, Ekwuru, Ebor, Enugu Nimbo, Umuome and Ugwuachara) were among the areas attacked.
Ten residential houses and a church, Christ Holy Church International, aka Odozi Obodo, were also said to have been burned by the herdsmen, just as vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed and domestic animals killed.
In the same year, Punch Newspaper reported that about 20 persons in Ukpabi Nimbo, an agrarian community in the Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, were feared dead during an attack by Fulani herdsmen. It was learned that scores of armed cattle herdsmen, reportedly numbering more than a hundred, swooped on the sleepy community in the early hours of the day. Sources in the community disclosed that continuous gunshots were heard as the rampaging herdsmen moved to sack villagers from their homes.
Besides the atrocities committed against Uzo-Uwani people by the Fulani herdsmen, the pan-Igbo sociocultural organization Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide had warned South East governors against making land available for such projects.
In 2022, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide rubbished the resolutions of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore on the need for grazing reserves in the southeastern part of the country.
Ohanaeze described the grazing reserves demanded by Miyetti Allah as a sinister move that threatens national security and peace. It said the demand was “unreasonable, unrealistic, and a hallucination of daydreamers.”
Given the aforementioned facts, Governor Peter Mbah should have a rethink about the ranching project. Enugu communities, where it is supposed to be sited, have rejected it. Ohanaeze has warned of the dangers inherent in it. So, Whose interest will Peter Mbah be pursuing with such a controversial project?