Okun Yoruba of Kogi reject cattle colonies

The Okun Yoruba people of Kogi State under the auspices of the Okun Development Association (ODA) have rejected the proposal to establish cattle colonies for Fulani herdsmen in any part of their six local government areas.

This position was reached after a well-attended emergency national congress of the body held in Kabba at the weekend.

The Okun people said the idea of opening cattle colonies as hinted by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh was "repulsive and repugnant to equity, fairness and natural justice."

The Okun people who are in Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, Lokoja, Yagba West, Yagba East and Mopamuro Local Government Areas of the state said any proposal to appropriate their land for the promotion of the private business interests of Fulani herdsmen would deny them their rights to their ancestral land and would amount to an "avoidable time bomb."

In a communiqué issued at the end of the congress, the ODA said the cattle colony concept was a disservice to the people’s past, present and future and was as such unacceptable.

The Kogi state government, last week, announced that it had embraced the new policy and volunteered to pioneer the model.