Our attention has been drawn to a misleading publication making rounds on the social media with the title, “Don’t Cede Ekiti Land for Cattle Ranches” in which some group of persons within the factionalised chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State falsely alleged and attempted to deceive the public into believing that the plans to allocate grazing area for herdsmen is an idea of the Fayemi-led administration.
Under normal circumstances, we would not have bothered to respond since the authors could be impostors, and our party is not in the habit of joining issues with elements of the opposition that is factionalised beyond recognition, but seeing that the intention of the press release is to confuse the unsuspecting public, heighten communal tensions, and malign the impeccable name, image, and reputation of our leader, we consider it necessary to set the records straight and correct the falsehood being peddled by such impostors before their deliberate misrepresentation of facts takes root in the minds of the public.
Before pointing out the errors in their malicious statement, it is important to debunk their premise. At no point did the APC-led government plan to give herders the land belonging to farmers or chase affected community members away from their ancestral land for cattle ranching. This is a figment of the imagination of the impostors and blatant falsehood by rabble rousers, malicious troublemakers, and displaced upstarts whose only aim is to ferment trouble, heighten discord between farmers and herders, and destroy the social fabric that binds the people in our dear state. Having established this, we want to point out their lies, deceit, and misrepresented facts in the shallow publication.
*Error 1.* His Excellency, Dr. Kayode Fayemi DID NOT conceive the anti-grazing law. Rather, the PDP-led State House of Assembly passed the Ekiti State Anti-Grazing Bill which was signed into law by Mr. Ayo Fayose on August 29, 2016 in the presence of more than 3,000 traditional chiefs.
*Error 2.* Cattle ranching is NOT New! We have always had cattle ranches as far back as the Awolowo era where ranches were setup in Irele—Iyemero—Ikun—Oke—Ako axis. The 2016 Anti-Grazing Law, initiated by the PDP government led by Fayose, stipulates that the state government in collaboration with the 16 local governments should allocate grazing area to the Fulani herdsmen. As disclosed in an edition of the PUNCH newspaper, the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kolawole Oluwawole, the Fayose administration was already working with local government authorities to allocate portions of land for grazing in their areas as at 2016 before he left office.
*Error 3.* Under this law, NOBODY is coming to take our land in Ekiti. The 2016 Anti-Grazing Law empowers the governor of Ekiti State to secure farmlands and allocate unused land for cattle ranching. The Prohibition of Cattle and other Ruminants Grazing in Ekiti State law states in part, that “no person shall cause or permit any cattle or other ruminants belonging to him or under his control to graze on any land in which the Governor has not designated as ranches, no cattle or other ruminants shall by any means move or graze at night and that cattle movement and grazing are restricted to the hours between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm”.
*Error 4.* Cattle ranching WILL NOT lead to the loss of our ancestral land. Rather, it will go a long way to stop herdsmen from roaming about and destroying farmers’ crops and property. While defending the cattle ranching policy on social media in 2018, Ayo Fayose said, “Here in Ekiti, the Anti Open Grazing law stays…..With ranching, cattle farmers will make more money, especially from milk and those who will cultivate grass to sell to cattle farmers will also make money.” If Fayose, the PDP leader and proponent of the 2016 Anti-grazing Law, is convinced that the Policy is an effective measure towards conflict resolution between Fulani herdsmen and Farmers, who then are these mere rabble rousers in the PDP seeking public attention with unguarded statements?
As 2022 becomes clearer in the horizon, we are aware that various impostors with serious political baggage within Ekiti politics, will start seeking to be relevant, thus attempting to malign the integrity of our party. By their antecedents, the only known political strategy they can boast of is to distort, malign, blackmail, or cause strife and heighten tensions with the hope of making the state unliveable for Ekiti people.
The Fayemi administration is leveraging on the 2016 Anti-Grazing Law to checkmate the level of conflict between herdsmen and farmers, secure farmlands and communities, and enable peaceful coexistence in the state. Adequate security of our people is what concerns the APC most in Ekiti and we want our people to ignore the lies and falsehood that some ill-minded individuals are spreading around.
We, therefore, urge the public to please ignore the barrage of propaganda, lies, deceit baseless campaigns of calumny against the person of His Excellency, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi CON, the Ekiti State Government, and the All Progressives Congress (APC). As we have proven by showing their deception in their kangaroo press statement, every one of their future propaganda will be rooted in falsehood. Their baseless rumours is to cause disaffection because they are no longer in power and it is their wish that Ekiti should be consumed by anarchy.
The APC government is committed to delivering good governance and completing all the ongoing projects in the education, health, industrial, agribusiness, and economic sector. We shall not be distracted.
Signed:
*Elder Sam Oluwalana*
Director, Media and Publicity
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Ekiti State.
