Ganduje Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has again argued that Ruga settlements for Fulani herdsmen should not be a national issue, as according to him, imposing it on Nigerians would be tantamount to building a nightclub near a church or mosque.
Ganduje who to journalists in Abuja to mark his 100 days in office, said that while the Fulani in the South have constitutional right to stay there, and should stay if they want to, they have to ensure that their activities don’t harm others.
“Ruga should not be a national issue, it should be a state issue. If there are Fulani in the South and they want to remain there, the Constitution has allowed them to remain there but they should negotiate their stay with the host communities without harming anybody,” Ganduje said.
“If you live in a place, you must not harm the environment and the environment must not harm you and that could only exist when you negotiate. You cannot build a nightclub near a church or near a mosque. That will not guarantee peace.
“In those days, herders-farmers’ relationship was symbiotic. While the cow dung provided manure for the land, the herdsmen get grazing areas. But because of climate change and population expansion, the land became scarce. You can remain wherever you are but you must negotiate your stay.”
The governor said his state is already building settlements with a view to settling herders to curtail clashes.
“Pertaining to herdsmen/farmers’ crisis, which we succeeded in curtailing. We are going to contract farm settlements so that the herdsmen will no longer travel from one place and another,” he said.
“We have a technical committee, which involves herdsmen themselves. We have five big forests, which we are converting to be grazing reserves, including Falgore forest. We already have the technical committee working. We have already awarded contract for water, which is being provided as we construct some tanks in some places.
We will provide social amenities like hospital, veterinary clinic, market, security post and school so that herdsmen will enjoy facilities just like other Nigerians.” Ganduje who also spoke on 2023 presidency noted that zoning may not work in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“About the zoning issue, which was triggered by the governor of Kaduna State, it is an issue between realism and idealism,” he noted.
“Idealism is a situation whereby things should be according to ideal, and, if things are according to ideal, then everybody has equal opportunity, equal chance to contest and then whatever the people decide would triumph. That is idealism.
Now, the issue of realism, Nigeria is multi-tribal and that is why we have geopolitical zones, that is why we have, even during the colonial time, North and South, but now we have states and geopolitical zones. So, in reality, people are yearning for participation from different geopolitical zones: North and South. That is still in our mind.
“The reality of the situation is that people are clamouring (over) marginalisation in the leadership of the country but the idealism is that people should participate and be elected based on their capacity and capability.
“So it is not the governor of Kano State that would decide whether it would be idealism or realism. It is the party that would determine which theory should be applied in Nigeria. Politics is a game of numbers.