Forest Reserves
Ondo governor: No land in southern Nigeria will be ceded to invaders masquerading as herdsmen
The Ondo State Governor and Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has declared that “no inch of the space delineated and known, currently, as South West, and indeed the whole South, will be ceded to a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise.” Akeredolu made the declaration in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant Special Duties and Strategies, Dr Doyin Odebowale. The declaration was sequel to a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, on the position of President Muhammadu Buhari, on the farmer-herder clashes and what was termed as “Deep Rooted Solutions to the herdsmen attacks”. Shehu had in the statement revealed the presidency’s position that ranching and revival...
Amotekun evicts another 137 northerners from Ondo forest
No fewer than 137 northerners have again been evicted from the forest reserves in Ondo state by the state security outfit codenamed Amotekun. Those evicted were occupying the Elegbeka forest reserves along Ifon-Owo road. Speaking with newsmen in Akure, the state commander of Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye said that their continued occupation of the forest reserve was a security threat to the state. Adeleye said that all the illegal forest occupants would be escorted out of the state to wherever they came from. “We got an Intelligence report that very many people bombarded (forests at) Elegbeka–Ifon area in the state. “We moved in and questioned the majority of them and they said they were from the northern part of the country “We asked for their mission they were not able to give us a cl...
World Forest Day: Nigeria’s forests reduced to less than 25% – environmentalists
Some environmentalists on Monday said that unwholesome human activities had reduced the nation’s forest resources to less than 25 per cent. The environment experts made the assertion during an event in Lagos State to commemorate the 2021 World Forest Day, held every March 21, to raise public consciousness on conservation of forests. Newsmen report that the theme of the 2021 edition is “Forest Recovery, a Path and Wellbeing’’. The environmentalists, who envisaged danger as a result of depletion of forests, advised Nigerians to always replenish nature, whenever their activities caused violation of nature. At the event, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development, Nigeria, Dr Leslie Adogame, said “with reduced forestry resources the human habitat is under...
Femi Falana: Bala Mohammed punished Abuja residents for trespassing but defends open grazing
Naijaloaded Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), says Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, while serving as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, demolished people’s houses because they encroached on government land. Falana, therefore, stated that it was funny that Bala could turn around to say that herdsmen have a right to stray into people’s land and reside in forest reserves without government permission. The senior advocate said this in a write-up he sent to newsmen on Saturday. He wrote, “Under the Bala Mohammed administration in the FCT, thousands of houses were demolished on the grounds that they were illegally built on landed properties belonging to the Federal Government. “The ex-minister wanted to demolish the entire Mpape housing over a million people. He had claime...
Ondo Amotekun arrests illegal gold miners
The Ondo State Security Network also known as Operation Amotekun has announced the arrest of persons involved in illegal gold mining activities in the state. The suspects, according to the commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye, were arrested at different locations in Owo forest reserves on Sunday. He gave the names of those arrested as Shuaibu Yahaya, Habbi Usman, Kabiru Waheed, Mohammed Nurudeen, Mohammed Sulaman, Ali Mustapha, Ismaila Wahab, Musa Zeehed, Gabbar Musa, Sule Adamu, Abba Suleman, Usman Kabiru, Yahaya Danladi and Usman Ali Zekeri. The Amotekun official told journalists in Akure, Ondo State, on Monday that the suspects were arrested while operatives were enforcing the order given by Governor Rotimi Makinde that all illegal occupiers of forests reserved should vacate. “The ar...
Police: No influx of herdsmen to Ekiti forests
The Police Command in Ekiti State on Wednesday said there was no influx of herdsmen forests in the state from Ondo State forest reserves as being reported in the media. The command disclosed this in a statement signed in Ado-Ekiti by Mr Sunday Abutu, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), on behalf of the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Tunde Mobayo. The statement said the command had neither sighted nor received any report of herders migrating or relocating into any part of the state or its forests. It, therefore, called on the residents to disregard the report as fake and fictitious. According to the statement, the story was just a mere imagination of the source. It cautioned newsmen against fake and unverified publications capable of causing apprehension in the state, saying ...
Gani Adams: Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution is satanic
File Photo The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has called for the correction of the 1999 Constitution for peace to reign in Nigeria. Adams who described the constitution as satanic added that it is a wrong structure which Nigeria is running on. He said this in an interview on a Channels TV programme on Wednesday. “The major problem now is that Nigeria is being run on the basis of a wrong structure and on the basis of a wrong constitution,” he said. “The constitution of 1999 is wicked, it is satanic. If we don’t correct it, I can’t guarantee that peace will be in this country.” Adams also spoke on the necessity of the notice issued by the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, which required herdsmen to vacate the forest reserves in the state. “If the Governor did not give t...
OPC: We’ll deal with killer herdsmen
The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has vowed to get rid of killer herdsmen from the South West. It also offered to enforce the quit notice to herdsmen to vacate forest reserves by Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, which expires on Sunday. Deputy President to late OPC founder, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, in a statement on Sunday, further said the arrest order on Yoruba rights activist Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho is “misguided and provocative.” The socio-cultural group said: “Although the millions of law-abiding Fulani men and women living in our midst have absolutely no cause for alarm, those Fulani criminals hiding under the cloak of being herdsmen to perpetrate evil against law-abiding citizens should know their time is up. Henceforth, it will be fire for fire. “We are fully pr...
HURIWA accuses IGP Adamu of bias over Sunday Igboho’s arrest order
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Saturday accused the Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Mohammed Adamu of partiality and double standards by ordering the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Ngozi Onadeko to arrest the Yoruba Ethnic Rights Activist, Mr. Sunday Ighoho. But, HURIWA said IGP has refused to order the immediate arrest of the leader of a faction of Miyetti Allah Association, Bello Badejo who has threatened to take over lands of communities across the country unlawfully. HURIWA in a statement issued by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said: “May be the IGP is lobbying for extension of tenure and can do everything to please the powers that be that have unambiguously made it known that the Fulani Ethnicity and Fulani herdsmen are sacred cows wh...
