‘Jihadist Strongholds in the Making!’ – Igbo Farmers Sound the Alarm
By Ebere Inyama
(Onitsha) Traditional Rulers in Abia state have expressed concern over the acquisition of 5,000 plots of land by Fulani herdsmen in Abia state.
Speaking during a town hall meeting with the officials of the Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA) held on May 4, 2025 in Okahia, the Traditional Ruler of Okahia Community in the Obingwa county of Abia State, Eze Okey Ananaba, raised the alarm that suspected herders have already acquired over 5,000 plots of land in strategic border communities in Abia state.
According to him, Traditional Rulers in Obingwa county have petitioned the Abia State Government to halt the ongoing land transactions.
“We are concerned that suspected herders have already acquired over 5,000 plots of land in strategic border communities such as Mgboko Umuanunu, near the border with Akwa Ibom state and Akpaa Mbato community behind the National Institute for Nigerian Languages, NINLAN, Ovom, Aba.
“These land acquisitions pose serious security threats and could be used as operational bases for violent attacks on residents.
“Traditional rulers in Obingwa LGA have petitioned the Abia State Government to halt the ongoing land transactions. But our efforts have been ignored, and this continues to threaten the people and raise fears of impending violence”, he said.
Southeasterners rejected RUGA due to violent attacks
Speaking during an interview with TruthNigeria, a farmer based in Oforola community in Owerri West county of Imo state, Mr. Chinonyerem Osuji, said that “giving land to Fulani herders for ranching is very risky, because they are born jihadists and would attack the local people at the slightest provocation, kill them and take over the land in their community.”
In an official report signed by its Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, on March 11, 2024, the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), argued that the ranching projects are a smokescreen for the resettlement of Fulani herders and vowed to resist plans by the governors of Nigeria’s Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Imo and Ebonyi States to resettle Fulani herdsmen in the Southeast.
The report described how local leaders are being coerced into relinquishing parcels of land for the ranching projects and emphasized that the Southeast geopolitical zone that is being targeted by the government for ranching is “too tiny to grab for Fulani,” and that, if ceded as ranches for cattle, may end up as “Jihadist Fulani settlements.”
Government moves to acquire bulk land for herders after suspending RUGA
After the suspension of the RUGA project nationwide by the Federal government in July, 2019, the southeast states witnessed an upsurge in the scramble for the purchase of large portions of farmland. (The RUGA policy is a Nigerian policy introduced by former President Buhari in July, 2019 which aims to provide large portions of land across the states in Nigeria for the Fulani herdsmen to graze their cattle).
Four months after the suspension of the RUGA project, a move to sell 10, 000 hectares of land belonging to Isuokoma community in Abia state for an agricultural project suspected to be RUGA, was rejected by the national leaders and branch executives of Isuokoma Development Union in Diaspora.
In the same vein, protests erupted in the agrarian communities of Ohaji/Egbema county in Imo State on April 30, 2025, following an alleged move by the state government to acquire a large portion of land in the area to be used by the Fulani herdsmen for cattle ranching.
Reactions by stakeholders
“RUGA settlements are neither a priority nor a welcome development anywhere in today’s Nigeria outside of the states that produce cattle, and anyone reintroducing anything RUGA in the region is either being deliberately provocative or diversionary”, said Abia – state – born professor of political science, Obasi Igwe.
In an article published by Punch on 1st July, 2019 a political analyst, Eze Onyekpere, wondered why the federal government of Nigeria attempted to introduce the RUGA settlement for the Fulani in the southeast, noting that the land area in Northern Nigeria is sufficient for any form of cattle ranching in Nigeria.
“Niger State, for instance, is about 76,363 square kilometres and home to the great Shiroro and Kainji dams which provide water to the environment all year-round for farming and cattle rearing whereas Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states has a combined land area of 29,525square kilometres, which is less than 40 per cent of the size of Niger State”, he wrote.
“Armed with this fact, a reasonable Federal Government still calls on these states to provide land for cattle rearing! It is not a fair call,” Onyekpere added.
In his reaction, the Chairman of Anambra Industrial Cluster, Awada-Obosi in Idemili North county of Anambra State, Chief Johnson Okolo faulted the decision of the federal government to sponsor the RUGA project.
“Why will the Federal Government want to buy land where they will do cattle rearing for some people?” he queried.
“Let these people who are planning this RUGA ask Southern Kaduna, Benue and Jos what they are passing through in the hands of herdsmen. Do they want us to be internally displaced persons in our own land like Southern Kaduna, Benue, Jos amongst others?” he added.
Ebere Inyama is an Imo state – based conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
