…As Gov Ganduje seeks ban on free movement of cattle herders
Northern Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have tasked the newly appointed Service Chiefs to seek closer ties with the state governments in some volatile areas to ensure that the get first information that would help them deliver the huge task that awaits them in securing the nation
The governors who spoke while accompanying President Muhammadu Buhari to his Daura home in Katsina state to flag off the party’s fresh membership registration and revalidation exercise also noted that the new Service Chiefs have a lot to do, adding that they would be expected to perform even higher that the expectations of President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as many other Nigerians, considering the present state of the nation’s security
For Governor Abdulahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state, “the Service Chiefs must work closely with state governors because they (the governors) know what the people need and the black spots in their domains.”
Also responding on his expectations from the new Service Chiefs, the Gombe state governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, said: “I will ask them to work hard; harder than what Mr President might have assumed they would do because the task ahead is very challenging and I believe they will live up to expectations.”
Contributing on his expectations from the Service Chiefs, the governor of Jigawa state, Abubakar Badaru said: “I think they have to listen to people in the transfer of intelligence and continue to ask people to pray for them.”
Meanwhile, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state has called on the Federal Government to enact a law banning the movement of cattle from the north to other parts of the country in order to resolve the incessant incidences of clashes between farmers and herders.
The governor emphasised during a chat with journalists after a special lunch which the All Progressives Congress, APC, governors had with President Muhammadu Buhari at his Daura private residence, Katsina state during the weekend that having a ban on movement of herders would also address the challenge of cattle rustling.
Fielding question on how far he had gone with the Ruga project in his state, Ganduje said “we are building a Ruga settlement in Samsosua Forest, our border with Katsina and we have succeeded in curtailing the effect of banditry in that area.
“So, we are building many houses, we are constructing a dam; we are establishing a Cattle Artificial Insemination Centre; we are establishing a veterinary clinic and already we have started building houses for herdsmen.
“My advocacy is that we should abolish the transportation or trekking of herdsmen from the northern part of Nigeria to the middle belt and to the Southern part of Nigeria. There should be a law that will ban, otherwise we cannot control the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers and cannot control the cattle rustling which is affecting us greatly.”
