The Middle Belt Patriots Warn Against FG’s Request for Grazing Lands

Cautioning state governors not to yield to pressure from the Federal Government to allocate lands to herders for grazing, the Middle Belt Patriots emphasized that such concessions would exacerbate the security challenges in the Middle Belt region and beyond.

During the flag-off of the agricultural mechanisation revolution for food security in Minna, Niger State capital, President Bola Tinubu urged governors to designate portions of land in their states to Fulani herders for RUGA or ranching purposes.

In a statement signed by Steven Kefas, the Director of Media and Strategic Communications, the Middle Belt Patriots questioned the Federal Government’s consistent prioritization of pastoralists’ interests at the expense of the indigenous populations facing displacement and violence at the hands of armed ethnic militias associated with the herders.

The Middle Belt Patriots strongly condemned the recent directive from the Federal Government mandating state governors to provide land for grazing by Fulani herdsmen.

They stated, “This contentious order displays a shocking disregard for the already fragile security situation in the Middle Belt region, which has been under repeated violent assaults by armed Fulani ethnic militias.

“We caution the political and community leaders of the Middle Belt region – encompassing Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, and parts of Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi, Southern Kaduna, and Gombe – to completely reject this reckless federal directive.

“Complying with these demands and allocating more land for grazing will only exacerbate the ethnic tensions, intensify the genocidal killings, escalate the forceful displacement of natives from their lands, and jeopardize the fragile peace in a region already ravaged by immense suffering.”