Afenifere, in a press release signed by Otunba Dr. Gbola Adetunji Adam and Comrade Jare Ajayi, the chairman and the acting publicity secretary respectively, the Yoruba group stated that cattle ranching belong in the realm of ‘private business’.
“Why then should enormous public fund be devoted to establishing and promoting something that will be beneficial to some private individuals and endanger the lives of thousands if not million others?”
Afenifere expressed dismay that government could come up with this type of policy “without proper consultation and without a profound thought”.
While declaring that government’s action in this respect is tantamount to empowering a group of people at the expense of others, Afenifere Oyo expressed the fear that the action is likely to cause bloodshed and ethnic clashes.
It added that if government had considered the serious security breach such a move will bring, “it would not have contemplated it at all.”
The pan Yoruba group, emphasized that, “trying to use billions of public fund to establish cattle ranches is almost like rewarding those who have been terrorising local farmers by the way they graze their cattle on farmlands.”
On the realisation that Oyo State is among ten states where the pilot ranches will begin, the pan-Yoruba body called on the Oyo State government to “reject the idea altogether!”
It wondered why a governor who spoke as a true leader two years ago “will now allow any land of the state to be carved as cattle ranches for people who may not be indigenes or residents of Oyo State and people who may have little or no respect for our way of life”.
It would be recalled the courageous stand of Ajimobi-led administration in April 2016 when it maintained that there is no land in Oyo State for cattle colonies “the type being contemplated by the federal government.”
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