Ekiti Obas insist no land for Fulani cattle
“There is cause for alarm” Obas insist
By Akintunde Bamituyi
There wil be no land for Fulani cattles in Ekiti State, Obas in the agrarian state reaffirmed their position on Friday
The majority Obas, some 81 of them had written a letter to the state Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi rejecting any plan to set up ranching for cattle in Ekiti State.
In a rejoider released on Friday, the Obas again rejected claims attributed to a the Chairman, Ekiti Council of Obas, whose Private Assistance said there was no cause for alarm on the proposed project.
In a rejoinder made available to Irohinoodua on Friday, the majority Obas said the Ekiti State Government should be the appropriate institution to respond to the issue and not the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers.The statement was signed by the Majority Obas led by Onikun of Ikun Ekiti and the Oba of Omuo Ekiti
The 81 Obas said “We, the Majority Obas of Ekiti Land (MOBEL), are not out to join issues with the proprietor(s) of the above captioned publication which was purportedly issued in reaction to our published position on the decision of Ekiti State Government to welcome herders into our state under the proposed Federal Government’s livestock scheme”
The Obas said it is clear that the heading of the said publication was at variance with its content. While the heading attempted to credit the release to Ekiti State Council of Obas, the content showed clearly that the position canvassed therein was that of an individual who was said to be reacting to MOBEL’s statement. This is true as no meeting was ever convened to discuss this very sensitive issue by the council, the members of which we are, let alone reaching a decision on it”
The Obas argued that a decision on such a very sensitive issue with its possible serious security consequences cannot be taken on behalf of all Ekiti Obas by an individual Oba, regardless of the temporary office he may be holding in trust for us.
“Our position statement was addressed to The Ekiti State Government and they are the ones who are in the best position to tell us the true position of things on the very sensitive issue in question. We wish to state that our decision was based on news from very credible news media and not on fake news as being alleged. It would amount to dodging the issue to conclude on behalf of the Government that over one hundred Obas would append their signatures to a position, based on fake news. We would rather that the Govt itself, through its representative(s), make a definite pronouncement to confirm or allay our fears and worries on this matter” the Obas said.
According to the Obas, their position that Ekitiland will not be ceded for Fulani cattle remains.
“We stand by our position until Govt. makes its position known to us in very clear and unambiguous language. It leaves much to be desired if it is the responsibility of the Ekiti State Chairman of the Council of Traditional Rulers to assure us on behalf of the Governor that no part of our land would be ceded to any herdsmen or the National Livestock Programme as against the publications we earlier reacted to.”
