Herdsmen Crisis: Akeredolu Urges Nigerians To Ignore Bauchi Gov’s ‘Very Provoking And Insensitive’ Comments

Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, has warned his Bauchi State counterpart, Bala Mohammed, not to set the country on fire by his utterances.

Akeredolu described the comments made by Mohammed that Nigerians did not need the permission of the governor to occupy any forests in Ondo State as very sensitive and provocative.

The Ondo State governor had asked herdsmen occupying Ondo State Reserve Forests without registering with the state government to vacate within seven days.
Akeredolu said so many atrocities were being committed such as kidnappings, killings and rape, amongst others, in the forests and he said the notice was to sanitize the place and to have records of those who would be there.

The eviction notice generated applause from some quarters but the Presidency tackled Akeredolu on the issue. The Bauchi governor also said on Thursday that Nigerians did not need any permission from Akeredolu to live in Ondo forests.

Mohammed had said, “Land is in the hands of the state and federal governments in trust but Nigerians don’t need the permission of governors or the federal government to settle everywhere. You don’t need the permission of the governor of Bauchi or the governor of Ondo to be in the forests of Ondo if you choose to live in the forests because under Section 41 of the constitution, you are free to settle anywhere.”

Reacting to this in a statement on Saturday by the Special Assistant on New Media, Olabode Olatunde, the Ondo State governor urged Nigerians to disregard Mohammed’s comments.

The statement read, “The position of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, is not to engage or confront anyone who has the mindset of a crisis entrepreneur or war monger.

” Very provoking and insensitive as the statement appears, we can only err on the side of caution by advising Governor Bala Mohammed not set Nigeria on fire by his thoughts that are highly destructive and undermining national cohesion.

“Nigerians should ignore him and rather focus on those issues that can bring about peace and engender unity.”