Nobody owns any forest, Fulani herdsmen free to graze anywhere – Bala Mohammed

Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, has declared that Fulani herders are free to graze their cattle in any forest in the country.

He said nobody owns any forest and as such, it would be illegal to evict herders from forest reserves.

Mr. Mohammed said this in his keynote address at the closing ceremony of the 2021 Press Week of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Bauchi State Council.

He said his counterparts in the South-West and South-East took the wrong approach in tackling the ongoing herders-farmers clashes.

Ondo Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on January 18, gave Fulani herdsmen a seven-day ultimatum to vacate the state’s forest reserves.

While condemning the quit notice issued to the herdsmen in some states, the governor said it was the constitutional right of every citizen to reside wherever they want.

Mr. Mohammed also berated Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom, who had accused President Muhammadu Buhari of partiality and called on the federal government to give citizens gun licences.

He said, “Nobody owns any forest, the forest is owned by Nigeria…every Nigerian is free to stay anywhere .”