RUGA or NLTP or Maritime law (Opinion)

By Ter Lawrence Injo

I read the most duplicitous press release from Terver Akase in which he said, ‘Benue stakeholder met and critically evaluated the Livestock transformation programme in order to embrace aspects of it that will bring infrastructural development’ and rehabilitation of IDP’ and in the same vein says the state rejects aspects of the project that are at variance with the Open grazing prohibition law.

How is it possible to select only aspects of a programme that benefit you(infrastructure) without giving the benefactor (FG) what it needs; land ?
On the same day Akase was making his statement his boss Samuel Ortom who had initially conceded Agatu lands to ‘indigenous Fulani’was telling the Catholic faithful in Ikpayongo to reject ceding of land in any form Ruga/NLTP/Maritime law for livestock business.

Questions;
1: When did the ‘stakeholders’ Akase refers to meet and why was this not an open meeting to allow the masses of Benue who are the actual victims have a say?
2: Between Akase conceding that the state conditionally accepts the National livestock programme and Ortom asking Benue people to reject same in any guise, who are we to believe ?

There is more to this than meets the eyes!