Ruga controversy: Defend your lands, Ooni, Soyinka, tell Nigerians.

A call was made on Sunday by The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, to all Nigerians to rise up and defend their ancestral lands against usage for RUGA cattle settlements.

This was contained in a communiqué issued after a meeting between the Monarch and Soyinka, at the latter’s home in Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

In the communiqué, The Ooni of Ife and the Nobel Laureate, said their call on Nigerians to defend themselves became necessary as the Coalition of Northern Groups gave a 30-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement the Ruga project for Fulani herders despite its suspension after a public outcry against it.

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It would be recalled that, this call by Oba Ogunwusi and Soyinka is coming after the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum raised an alarm that the Federal Government was plotting to repeal the Land Use Act, which conferred the power to control lands in states on governors.

In the communiqué they clearly stated that

“the recent ultimatum delivered by a sectarian order to the President of this nation to set up the so-called Ruga cattle settlements across the entire nation within a stipulated time, despite the national outcry, should be acknowledged as an entitlement under the bounty of freedom of expression.

In return, we exercise ours, and call upon Nigerian nationals across state demarcations to defend the sanctity of their ancestral lands. This birthright has never been annulled, not even under colonial occupation.

They both advised that all efforts must, therefore, be put in place to anticipate and douse socio-political flare-ups which is capable of advancing the chances of a conflict and its devastating effects on the Nigerian humanity.

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