National President of Akpa Community Development
Association (ACDA) Dr. Fidelis Otebe, has condemned the erection of Ruga
settlement signpost in his community in Otukpo, Benue State, stating that it’s
an act of criminality even as he rejected the intention of federal government
to establish grazing reserve in Akpa land.
Otebe, who stated this on Sunday after consulting Akpa
sons and daughters at home and the diaspora, said the people have no land to
give as grazing reserve in whatever form to anybody, including Fulani herdsmen
and federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Abuja.
He said the people are agrarian settlers and earned
their living through cultivation of agricultural crops, stressing that the
people have no land for grazing reserve and warned those with the idea to
locate the grazing reserve in Akpa to stay clear from the area.
The president of the community said the people had
given land to agricultural training institute in Otobi, Otukpo, multipurpose
dam in Otobi, university of health sciences in Akwete which has recently been
signed to take off; federal government college, federal government tourism
centre for crafts, among others of which compensation were paid to the people.
He said those who brought the signpost to be erected
in Akpa land were criminals and should stay clear from the area.
Otebe said the people were behind the state Governor,
Samuel Ortom, and his deputy, Benson Abounu, in the enactment of open
prohibition and ranches establishment law in the state, adding that anyone who
wants to acquire land should go through state government and leaders and elders
of the community.
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