Presidency Rejects Akeredolu’s Ultimatum to Herders

The Presidency has criticized Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for asking herders to vacate Ondo forest reserves.
The senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, noted things In a statement, Tuesday. He said the Presidency had been observing the happenings in the state.

Akeredolu had on Monday giving herdsmen in I do state a seven-day ultimatum to vacate all forest reserves due to the state’s high rate of kidnapping.
He had said, “Today, we have taken significant steps at addressing the root cause of kidnapping, in particular, and other nefarious activities detailed and documented in security reports, the press, and debriefings from victims of kidnap cases in Ondo State.

“As the chief law and security officer of the state, it is my constitutional obligation to do everything lawful to protect the lives and property of all residents of the state. In light of the foregoing, the following orders are hereby issued: All forest reserves in the state are to be vacated by herdsmen within the next seven days with effect from Today, Monday, January 18, 2021.”

But Shehu, who reacted to the request, said lack of consistency in the message affects the parties. He started to head to different contradictions regarding the accuracy and utter the purpose of the message.

The Presidency, therefore, urged the state government and the leadership of the Fulani communities to come together and make dialogue that will birth mutual understanding and ensure the safety of lives and property in the state.

Shehu noted that Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN and a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association NBA, has been committed to battling crime in Ondo state.

According to him, “It will be the least expected to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals.
“If this were to be the case, rights groups will be right in expressing worries that the action could set off a chain of events which the makers of our constitution foresaw and tried to guard against.

“We want to make it clear that kidnapping, banditry, and rustling are crimes, no matter the motive or who is involved. But, to define crime from the nameplates, as several commentators have erroneously done- which group they belong to, the language they speak, their geographical location, or their faith is atavistic and cruel.

“We need to delink terrorism and crimes from ethnicity, geographical origins, and religion—to isolate the criminals who use this interchange of arguments to hinder law enforcement efforts as the only way to deal effectively with them.

“The President, who swore to defend the constitution has spoken against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in asking citizens of Northern origin to leave; he did not spare the group based in Sokoto, ‘Muslim Solidarity Forum,’ which asked the Bishop of Sokoto to leave and is prepared to do all that the law permits to protect citizens all over the country in their choice of where they wished to reside and are treated as equal citizens.”

Shehu said Ondo and all other States should differentiate law-abiding citizens from criminals.
He further said the fight against crime is also a fight for human values, which is fundamental to Nigeria and is beyond law and order.