IPOB kicks as FG proposes ranching countrywide, says it’s ‘land grabbing’

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The Indigenous People of Biafra, has kicked against the proposal by President Bola Tinubu to establish cattle ranches in Abuja, the ancestral homeland of the Gbagi people and other states across the country.

The pro-Biafran agitators described the proposal as Ruga by another name and a ploy to grab people’s ancestral lands while masked a policy of government.

Emma Powerful, the IPOB spokesman, in a press statement on Tuesday, said it was shameful that the Federal Government is prioritising cow colonies over education, security, and innovation in this age.

He condemned “the rise of alien immigrants, and the transformation of indigenous owners of the land into strangers in their ancestral homes. Abuja is about to witness the same fate if this madness is not stopped,” the statement read in part.

“Is President Tinubu unaware that no sensible country in the world keeps cattle around its capital city?

“Let him point to any major city—from Nairobi to New Delhi, São Paulo to Seoul—where cattle are granted permanent settlements around central governance zones.

“This absurdity is uniquely Nigerian, and disgracefully so.”

He posited that the land around Abuja belongs to the Gbagi people.

“To dispossess them by executive fiat is an unforgivable act of aggression and cultural genocide.

“Today, the Gbagi are being pushed to the margins; tomorrow, there will be an Emir of Abuja. And in 60 years—just like what befell the Hausas—the Gbagi will be footnotes in history, reduced to relics of their own heritage.”

Powerful vowed that the proposal would not be welcome in the South-east, adding that it must be strongly resisted.

“Let it be known that IPOB shall resist any attempt—direct or indirect—to impose this toxic expansionist agenda anywhere in Biafraland. No inch of our territory will be given for herder settlements, cattle corridors, or so-called ranching. Our forests, our villages, our farmlands are sacred to us—not bargaining chips in a federal contract of death,” he declared.

Powerful argued that there is no progressive nation that establishes ranches near homes, schools, and marketplaces, adding that it is a reflection of its failure, if the Tinubu administration cannot comprehend this truth.

“Let them be transported by rail, just as is done in civilised societies. That’s how a serious nation handles its livestock economy—not by slaughtering indigenous peoples and seizing their homes under the guise of ranching.

“IPOB stands with the Gbagi people and every other indigenous nationality facing existential threats from Fulani neo-colonial conquest dressed up as national policy. Our diversity must be respected, our cultures preserved, and our ancestral lands protected. Let the killings in the name of cows stop. Let the bloodletting cease. Let Nigeria choose reason over ruin.”