Alago body warns Nasarawa's Governor Al-Makura that he risks war by locating ranches in their community

NASARAWA State youth forum the Alago Development Association (Ada) has warmed Governor Tanko Al-Makura that he risks provoking a war an unimaginable war if he invites Fulani cattle herdsmen to the state to come and open ranches.

With Nigeria wrecked by communal violence as heavily-armed Fulani cattle herdsmen clash with farmers across rural villages, the federal government has proposed creating ranches in several states to address the problem. Governor Al-Makura has volunteered to offer land to the herdsmen in Nasarawa State, so they can graze their livestock there away from farmland.

Recently, Governor Al-Makura approved the establishment of cattle ranches in several Alago communities including Doma, Keana, Obi and Assakio local government areas of the state. Incensed by the offer, Ada president Iliya Ashokpa Auna, pointed out that that the Alagos, were farmers and descendants of Kwararafa, with a culture and tradition that differs from that of the Fulani.

He said Governor Al-Makura was inviting war to the area by approving the location of the cattle ranches in their areas, adding that Alago communities were already under siege by the herdsmen. According to Ada, it was unhealthy and a time bomb that was capable of causing an unimaginable crisis in future.

Mr Auna said: “It will naturally be of good conscious to allocate most of these ranches to areas and places like Keffi, Nasarawa and Uke local government areas which have similar cultures, tradition and speaks the same language instead of Doma, Keana, Obi and Assakio. We cannot fold our hands and allow our ancestral lands be allocated and taken over in the name of ranches, neither can we allow the relative peace being enjoyed in the Alago nation be disrupted.

Speaking further, he accused the governor of re-locating all the state government projects cited in the Alago nation by the previous administrations to his own community and advised him to also locate the cattle ranches there. Mr Auna added:  “It may interest the general public to know that more than six lucrative projects worth billions of Naira were cited in Kwandare village, the governor’s ancestral home with not more than an approximate population of 3,000 people.

“These projects include the construction of modern market Kwandare, the construction of the Kwandare –Keffi Road, Lafia-Kwandere Road, the establishment of the Federal Primary Healthcare Hospital, Kwandare, the construction of Lafia Cargo Airport in Kwandare, the establishment of Model Government Girls Secondary School, Kwandare and the recent citing of the state office headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission in Kwandare. Yet the governor did not deem it necessary to locate one cattle ranch in Kwandere.

“It is pertinent to also note that while projects worth billions of naira can be seen in Kwandere, the entire Alago communities put together cannot boast of a completed project of N1bn. However, the governor finds these same Alago communities and local governments suitable for ranches.”