By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
An agric project worth $120 million Abuja plans in Imo State has been rejected by five communities in Oguta South – Agwa, Ejemekwuru, Akabor, Umuofor, and Izombe – with protests denouncing it as a plot to grab land for Fulani herdsmen.
Spokespersons for the oil communities described the project as a Trojan horse and a veiled plot by President Muhammadu Buhari to appropriate their ancestral land, their only means of livelihood, for his Fulani supremacist agenda.
They staged protests chanting solidarity songs and carrying fresh palm fronds and placards with inscriptions such as
- “Our land is for crop farming and residential purpose”
- “Agwa people say no to RUGA livestock farming”
- “Ohaom people say no to their offer, we don’t need it”
- “No land for agricultural development”
- “Akabor people say no to RUGA livestock farming or cattle rearing”
- “No vacant land for agro and allied farm project”
Uzodimma says project in the interest of Imolites
The Nation reports that the protesters, including women, rejected pleas by Governor Hope Uzodimma who later addressed them at the Community Primary School field in Ejemekwuru.
Uzodimma, represented by his Deputy, Placid Njoku, attributed the opposition to the activities “of those who do not mean well for the people,” because “this project is a Special Agro-industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ), which was keenly competed for by the 36 states of the federation, with Imo as one of the states selected.”
Uzodimma said the project, executed by the federal government in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB), will encompass poultry, pig, maize, soya beans, and animal feeds.
It will also integrate a gas project and Adapalm Nigeria already in existence, he added, insisting that it has nothing to do with the controversial Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) Buhari plans for Fulani herdsmen.
“It is meant to bring efficiency, wealth and job creation and modernity and it is in the interest of Imo State and not in the interest of those who do not mean well for you. Upon completion, you will rise up and thank … Uzodimma for a job well done.”
Uzodimma said the project will go on despite the rejection because the Land Use Act gives the state government absolute right to site projects on any land in the interest of the people.
“There is a process of acquiring land. That process we shall follow to compensate the owners of the land,” he promised.
