EBONYI GOVERNOR ENG.UMAKI ON THRESHOLD OF HISTORY........INAUGURATE SECURITY TAG TEAM ON FULANI

When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough. Donald Trump
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/fight.html

When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough. Donald Trump
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/fight.html

“When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough”.

Is popular quote of Donald Trump and it sees that is what is today motivating Governor Umahi to fight back, reports Cerutti Mike Osagie

Yes, the Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has again told Fulani herdsmen that movements of cattle from one place to another in the state would no longer be tolerated.

Umahi,while inaugurating security committee on Fulani herdsmen in Abakaliki on Friday, expressed outrage over the flouting of his earlier directive on the matter by some  herdsmen.

A statement on Saturday by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, quoted him as saying:  " I frown very deeply about  seeing cattle still going around in Ebonyi State. I gave a directive that no cattle should move around. Cattle should be in one location. Their   owners should go and look for food for them .

"Yesterday(Thursday) when I went to the new city (Centennary  City) where we just planted   flowers and trees,I saw cattle all over the place. I asked my ADC to go and see if one leaf was eaten  by any of the cattle,because,I would personnally  order  the arrest of those people.

" Let me warn and warn very seriously. I don't want to see cattle moving up and down in Ebonyi State."

The governor told the committee which has some  Fulani herdsmen as members, that he  feared that the cattle could pose a serious threat to his administration's agricultural programme.

He added, "You can see our land is almost  occupied with agricultural activities.If the Federal Government  is  asking us to feed ourselves and  cattle  are moving up and down ,how do we continue with that?.

"I have been an advocate that   Fulani people that have been living with us  for over 60 to 80   years can't  be asked  to go because they   are our brothers and sisters. They have to live with us. But I warn that  even if an  Ebonyi man has a cow  and the cow is moving up and down,I will resist it.

"So, is not a question of where you come from,it is a question of our policy in this state. How do we achieve our  one-man, one-hectare agricultural programme If cows  are still moving up and down."

Governor Umahi however said the government was ready to assist the herdsmen in whatever form to make them keep their cattle at designated places.

He added, "If there is assistance that government will offer to our brothers and sisters to keep their cattle in one place,I will do so   freely. But  I will be very angry  to see a cow on the  rice farms that we have laboured much. We  borrowed N2 billion for rice plantation.It will break my heart to continue to receive  calls that cattle are destroying our rice farms."

Appealing to  communities not to chase away Fulani herdsmen away, the governor called on the cattle rustlers to keep their cattle  whereever  the communities give them.

" Let us co exist; let us live together with love. We are one people. Nigeria cannot be a great nation,if we have ethnic problems and hatred for one another.We can freely exist any where we find ourselves," he advised.

The Augustine Nwakwegu-led  committee on  herdsmen  also comprises some members of the state Executive Council, some traditional rulers council, the commissioner of police,and the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps.