Ogbe Undermining Livestock Producers, Laments Miyetti Allah
Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, yesterday ruled out the possibility of reaching out to Emeka Ojukwu Jnr., who defected from the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), before the November 18 governorship election, describing him as inconsequential.
"He is of no consequence, I’m sorry to say," Obiano said.
The governor who made this remark while answering questions from journalists in the State House, Abuja, said he had visited President Muhammadu Buhari to thank him for keeping his words that he would not interfere in November 18, governorship election in Anambra State.
He described his victory as an expression of the faith and confidence that Anambra people have in him adding that he had extended the olive branch to candidates of other political parties who contested the election against him.
He said Buhari was excited that the votes of the people of Anambra counted, adding that the President remarked that such was the legacy he wanted to leave as a proponent of free and fair elections.
"Well, I thank God it is the Lord’s doing. To win 21 over 21 is not an easy task. It just showed the faith the people had in me and that is exactly why it happened and I thank Ndi Anambra for the confidence reposed on me and reassure them that this will encourage me to work harder.
"Well, we have extended olive branch to my colleagues, my friends that contested with me and as you can see, they have all congratulated me and we will hold hands and march on. You see, our private ambitions can never be greater than the interest of Anambra State. I believe we are working on well,” Obiano said.
Asked if his re-election would stimulate good relationship with his estranged former boss and predecessor, Mr. Peter Obi, who brought him into politics and helped him to become governor, Obiano swiftly retorted: "I don’t have a problem with anybody. I’m doing well. I don’t have a problem with anybody," he said.
He also dismissed insinuations that he was contemplating defecting from APGA to APC, describing APGA as a strong party in the South-east.
"My party is very strong in the South-east and that you will see very soon in the coming elections and from there, we will march on. No. Never. That is totally unfounded. I will never leave APGA. I’m the leader and the Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, and again, by God’s grace, the governor and governor-elect," he added.
Miyetti-Allah Kautal Hore Fulani Socio-cultural Association has lamented that the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe was exploiting his relationship with the president to undermine the interest of livestock producers in this country.
It added that the present psychology of the minister would not bring succour to livestock producers, noting that livestock production had been neglected over the years.
Miyetti Allah wondered why FADAMA project was aggressively being sponsored by the World Bank without taking livestock production into consideration.
The National President of the Association, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo and the National Secretary, Mr. Saleh Alhassan made the disclosure at a press conference in Abuja.
Bodejo alleged that he had been receiving death threats due to the association's stand against anti-grazing law in Benue State.
Alhassan decried that livestock department in the ministry of agriculture had failed completely, describing it as a deliberate sabotage.
He stated: "up till now, all the policies developed for livestock production are just at the table. The idea of creating an agency to ensure there is identification and tagging and management of livestock in this country is germane and it's an international practice. If that agency comes in place, every cattle you have in this country will carry a chip. It will address this security issue. If you say cattle have trespassed into your farm, just arrest one, the chip will identify the owner. All abattoirs will not take cattle that are not tagged, it is a technology that has been used to address lack of accountability to end this bisque of unknown gunmen.
"The livestock department in the ministry of agriculture has failed completely. It is a deliberate sabotage. There is underlining politics about it, unfortunately most of the people in charge of policies in the agricultural sector are from the background of crop producers. They have this inherent bias against livestock production. In fact the minister should see that policy as a complimentary policy because you have companies that are ready to come with that technology of tagging livestock.
"For the minister to oppose it, I believe is either being mischievous or so ignorant of the policy.
We are calling for the removal of the responsibility of livestock policy from the ministry as it is now. As it is now the chemistry, the psychology of Audu Ogbe that we know of today is not ready to bring succour to pastoralists," Alhassan said.
He emphased that since the coming into force of Benue State anti-grazing law in November 1, over 10,000 herdsmen had been displaced, while over 600 cows had died.
"So far, we have a reported case of a particular Fulani man, Abdukadri who committed suicide because he lost over 200 cows. We have the criminal eviction of over 10,000 headers, they are forced into Nassarawa border communities, Taraba and some into Cross River.