By Uche Mbah
The Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, a group consisting of elder statesmen and leaders of thought in the Southeast geopolitical zone, on Monday declared that any State that does not comply with the resolution of the Southern Governors Forum concerning their position on anti-open grazing is simply insensitive, unpatriotic, and plotting a coup against the masses of Southern Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Forum, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, stated this during a press conference organized by the Group in Abuja, Nigeria.
The Group insisted that the Presidency must be zoned to the South, and specifically the Southeast, and that any political party that ignores this appeal “should be prepared to struggle without the votes of our people”.
Part of their demands was the restructuring of the country.
While their western counterparts struggled to beat the September deadline for States to pass the Bill, some South-east Governors appear to be foot- dragging on the issue.
Enugu State House of Assembly has passed the bill, but the Governor is yet to sign it into law.
They, however, pleaded that the 2023 Presidency should be micro-zoned to the South East.
They insisted that in any Southeast state that suffers bandits, terrorists, or herdsmen attack, the responsibility should be squarely placed on the shoulders of the respective Governor.
The Group lamented the foot-dragging by Southeastern Governors over the anti-grazing laws.
“Our attention has been drawn to the tactical delay or even outright reluctance of some states in the Southeast to pass anti-open grazing law as resolved by the recent meeting of the Southern Governors’ Forum that each state in the South should enact an anti-open grazing law by September 1, 2021″, he said.
“It is expected that every state in the South-east should not only pass the anti-open grazing law within this period but also put in place appropriate mechanisms for immediate implementation of the law in the state, otherwise the laudable objective of enacting the law to minimize conflicts between farmers and herders, as well as promote ranching and other modern pastoral methods, will be defeated.
“Any State that has failed to comply with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ is insensitive, unpatriotic, and anti-people as the reluctance or arrogant refusal to comply with that decision is considered a coup against the masses of Southern Nigeria.
“While we commend Enugu and Abia States for their efforts to impanel legislation on anti-open grazing, we urge the other states in the South, especially in the South East and other Igbo-speaking states of the South-South to put in place necessary machinery to comply with the Southern Governors’ resolution or be liable for aborting the popular will and desire of our people.
“The Governors and the State Assemblies of delinquent states, especially in the South-East should be held responsible for non-compliance.”
According to him, “We also view with grave concern the concerted efforts of some unpatriotic Nigerians, in concert with some of our sons and political leaders, to scuttle the resolution of Southern Governors that the 2023 presidency of Nigerian is zoned to the South for the sake of peace, justice, equity, and fairness.
“The Presidency has to be zoned to the South, and we believe that our brothers of the South-South and South-west shall be considerate enough to micro-zone it to the South-east.
“We also hasten to warn that any political party that tinkers with this laudable demand that the 2023 Presidency be zoned to the South, and do otherwise by zoning elsewhere, should be prepared to struggle without the votes of our people.”
He further said,
“Restructuring includes resource control, but it is not limited to control of resources. There is this feeling and it is wrong to think that if we restructure the country, no oil money will go to the North again. That is not true.
“It is not political to, one day, cut off the supply of money to any State or Local Government in the name of restructuring. We can nationalize the major mineral resources and then give a higher percentage of revenue to the region where it is coming from.
“But every Nigerian must gain from what is in Nigeria. Without restructuring, we are not going to make progress as a nation. The country will disintegrate.”
