FG sends strong warning to Akeredolu for telling herdsmen to leave Ondo forest

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has sent a strong warning to Ondo State Governor, Rotimini Akeredolu, over his recent ejection notice to herdsmen in the state.

The state governor had issued herders in the state a notice to stop grazing in Ondo forest.

However, in a swift reacting, the cattle rearers association said they can only take order from president Buhari and not the governor.

Reacting to the development, Buhari, in a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu, said the presidency is not pleased with what is going on in Ondo State.

Shehu said, “It will be the least expected to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals.

“If this were to be the case, rights groups will be right in expressing worries that the action could set off a chain of events which the makers of our constitution foresaw and tried to guard against.

“We want to make it clear that kidnapping, banditry and rustling are crimes, no matter the motive or who is involved. But, to define crime from the nameplates, as a number of commentators have erroneously done- which group they belong to, the language they speak, their geographical location or their faith is atavistic and cruel.

“We need to delink terrorism and crimes from ethnicity, geographical origins and religion—to isolate the criminals who use this interchange of arguments to hinder law enforcement efforts as the only way to deal effectively with them.

“The President, who swore to defend the constitution has spoken against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in asking citizens of Northern origin to leave; he did not spare the group based in Sokoto, ‘Muslim Solidarity Forum,’ which asked the Bishop of Sokoto to leave and is prepared to do all that the law permits to protect citizens all over the country in their choice of where they wished to reside and are treated as equal citizens.”