Ruga settlement agenda and the undemocratic annotations from the presidency

A few weeks ago, the agenda was about the dead and buried “Fulani Radio Station,” but today, it is on the dappled “Ruga” settlement agenda that is being peddled and flogged by a few political-elements in the administration of president Buhari and Mr. president, because he is the one calling the shots when it comes to everything on the ongoing administration. It seems as if this administration only exists to push the agenda of Fulani people alone!

Nigeria is still in a dire need of a president, who is in power for every Nigerian. We need a president—who is not sectional. Nigerians need a father, who would love all of us evenly and in the same way. Nigerians need a president, who does not prefer his own tribe to other tribes. Many tribes in Nigeria are daily feeling as if they are fatherless, because president Buhari seems to be only concerned about his own people. The way he responds to issues when they affect his people is quite different from the way he responds to issues when they affect other tribes.

Ruga settlement is not going to solve any problem. Infact, it is going to add and adjoin more problems to the ones we are battling with right now. The news reaching us says that some herdsmen are almost freely killing people, taking over their lands. This is without the agenda that the current administration is trying to force on all our people, dangling the empty carrot of “Ruga” benefits before them.

Two days ago, Garba Shehu, one of those whom are being paid to speak for PMB said and I quote: “It is true that government at the centre has gazette lands in all states of the federation but because the idea is not to force this programme on anyone, the government has limited the take-off to the dozen states with valid requests.” There are some questions begging for some answers as beggars would beg for some coins. One, who are those who met before they did gazette lands in all states of the Federation as said by Garba Shehu? Two, how come the presidency alone did gazette lands in all the states of the Federation—without involving all our state governors? Three, before those lands in all the states of the Federation were gazette; did Federal Executive Council (FEC) approve it? Who are those faceless people who did gazette lands in all the states of the Federation? Nigerians demand to know them!

It is an error to come up with an agenda that affects all of us without carrying all of us along. Before the ill-conceived and poorly birthed Ruga agenda, Nigerians expect them to have moved round the country, holding town-hall meetings with them. I make bold to say that Ruga settlement agenda is a premature one and its destiny is to die!

Ruga settlement agenda cannot fly in a nation that is terribly polarized. Nigeria is even currently more divided than we were during the senseless civil war that claimed many souls. What Nigeria needs at the moment is a president, who has the strength of character to unite them. I do not care a hoot how dignified and noble an idea is; it would not fly, because Nigerians are currently divided along ethnic and religious lines. As well, another demon that is separating us is the kind of grimy and small-minded politics we are playing in Nigeria.

For those whom think “Ruga” is about those benefits that are flying all over social media, if those who are behind that policy truly love you, some of your basic national-problems would have been solved by them. It is cheaper to build a new refinery than to execute their Ruga agenda! Nigerians should know better by now. It is not about you. It is about what is in it for them.

Nigerians do not need Ruga settlement in every state! Nigerians need good roads in all the states of the Federation. Nigerians need world-class hospitals in all the states of the Federation. Nigerians need constant supply of electricity in all the states in the Federation. Nigerians need clean water to drink in all the states of the Federation. Nigerians need affordable shelter in all the states of the Federation.

It is only in Nigeria that we reward bedlam, anarchy and bloodletting. We reward violent people, while law-abiding people are daily languishing in poverty. Before Ruga, we need to know Fulani folks who are truly Nigerians and Fulani folks who are from some West African countries. Our own Fulani folks aren’t bloodsucking devils! Many years ago, I used to see them on my granddad’s farms on the inside of my village and they were harmless. Today, we do have too many aliens—who are killers—in our land and we want to either intentionally or inadvertently reward them for almost daily spilling the blood of our people. Nigerians demand to first know our own true Fulani folks. And we demand that those who aren’t Nigerians who are Fulani folks be flushed out of here. Until this happens, there can never be a lasting peace within our borders! Remember, enduring peace and injustice cannot live together in a room without ceaseless crisis.

Lastly, each time these words jump out of the presidency—as those political-rats that were disturbing PMB during his first tenure in office: “there is no going back…,” I am compelled to always ask myself whether we are still either under a democratic regime or a military coup has unsuspectingly taken place. In a democracy, policies are sold till the people buy into them. It is undemocratic to force anything on the people. If truth be told, it is tyrannical to say there is no going back on a controversial agenda as “Ruga.” We do not need “cheap meat” at this time in the history of our country; we need a nation that works!