IPOB Rejects Ranching in Southeast, Urges Governors to Defy Presidential Order

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has strongly condemned a recent directive by President Bola Tinubu calling on state governors to allocate land for cattle ranching purposes.

In a press release issued by spokesman Emma Powerful, IPOB declared its absolute opposition to the proposal.

The statement emphasizes the group’s stance that no land within the Southeast region will be ceded for ranching or agricultural use by “external forces.”

The statement reads:

“The attention of the global family of IPOB has been drawn to a call from President Tinubu to the state governors to provide land in each state for ranching. IPOB considers such a call as a great disservice to the people who have been massacred by the same foreign marauding terrorists nicknamed herdsmen.

“Nigerian media yesterday reported what could be considered as a great disservice, the president’s call during a political inauguration of his agricultural programme in Niger State, where he was said to have asked the state governors to provide land for RUGA and ranches.

“Perhaps the president has forgotten that political campaigns where promises are made to win elections are over. The recent public call for the state governors to provide land for agriculture is not in good fate because it will embolden terrorist herdsmen.

“Nevertheless, we in the IPOB movement and family will never allow ceding or selling any part of our ancestral land to these dangerous terrorists and bandits for whatever reason. The Biafra region has no land for whatever purpose. Biafrans are farmers and pastoralists, too.

“Our lands are not sufficient for Biafrans to farm and rear livestock, let alone ceding some to the dangerous terrorists. President Tinubu can cede lands in the South-West and the North, but definitely not in the South-East and South-South.”

The statement urges Southeast governors to disregard the presidential order. IPOB vows to resist any attempts by governors to cede land for ranching purposes.

The group also calls upon people in the Southwest and Middle Belt regions to reject the ranching initiative, suggesting dire consequences for any region that allows it.