It Will Be Waste of Time to Expect Tinubu Say Anything on Ruga Because He Is A Promoter – Odumakin

  • Odumakin says he is not surprised that Tinubu kept mum on Ruga policy.
  • The policy has been rejected by notable Nigerians.

The Public Relations Officer of Yoruba socio-political group, Afenire, Yinka Odumakin, has alleged that a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, is one of the promoters of the Ruga initiative which seeks to give free land to herdsmen for cattle grazing and other forms of animal husbandry.

The Afenifere chieftain drew the attention of Nigerians to Tinubu’s speech at a national summit on conflict resolution organised by The Nation and TV Continental with the theme, ‘Towards an Enduring Peace’

According got him, the former Lagos Governor at the event held at the Nigerian Air Force Centre, Abuja on October 8, 2018, said, “The government must help herders gradually shift from their traditional nomadic existence to a more static lifestyle. We have to face the reality that modernity is making the nomadic way counterproductive and inefficient.

READ: Ruga: We Gave No Land, FG Has No Gazetted Land – South East Governors’ Forum

“Unoccupied, isolated land can quickly be turned into grazing areas in the affected states. In the long run, this will enable herders to better maintain their livestock and thus their own livelihood.”

In an interview with Punch, Odumakin said it was for this reason that Tinubu could not join other prominent Yoruba leaders in rejecting the Ruga programme.

Notable Nigerians like Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; the Aare Oona Kakanfo, Otunba Gani Adams, the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi; and other prominent Nigerians have all rejected the scheme.

“It would be a waste of time to expect Tinubu to say anything on the Ruga matter. Don’t forget that in 2018,  I spoke up then but he lambasted me.

“What we are witnessing today is a manifestation of what he said. So, how can he come out today to oppose Ruga? He advocated Ruga.

“To expect Asiwaju to speak against Ruga is like expecting a shadow to shed tears. It will never happen,”  the Afenifere spokesman said.

READ: Omokri, Benue Gov’t, Others Reject Ruga Farm Settlement Introduced by FG

Odumakin also noted that the Ruga Farm Settlement Policy and the National Livestock Development Plan which is in care of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo were not different from each other as claimed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Spokesman, Garba Shehu.

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