Don’t cede our lands to Fulani herders, IPOB warns Igbo leaders

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned monarchs, politicians and other stakeholders in the South-East not to sell any portion of land in the region to Fulani herders under the guise of agricultural purposes.

IPOB said any real estate agents having such deals should halt them because they would lose the land permanently, adding that the warning came from the history of how the Hausa people lost their ancestral lands to the Fulani in the 18th century.

IPOB gave the warning in a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful on Wednesday.

Powerful warned South-East residents not to embrace RUGA or any related programme

“The Indigenous People of Biafra led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who is illegally detained in the DSS custody and solitary confinement in Abuja wish to remind Biafrans, friends of Biafra, lovers of Biafra freedom, all the traditional rulers and President-General in Biafraland to desist from any plan or pressure to sell or hand over our ancestral lands to any government or Fulani agents for any purported agricultural purposes or anything else.

“This warning has become very necessary and is mainly for all Igbo traditional rulers, PGs, politicians, real estate agencies and other political jobbers in Biafraland to desist from any attempt to secretly allocate community lands to Fulani herdsmen in the name of agricultural investment or any project.

“The marauding Fulani are not coming for any agricultural business but rather occupy the land with their cattle and subsequently invite their terrorist relatives from the Sahel to occupy our ancestral lands in their land grabbing agenda,” the statement read.

The group also warned landowners that will still go ahead to sell lands to the invaders, despite it advise, to bear it in mind that they will forfeit that land.

“If you have any ongoing negotiations on land sell to the Fulani or their cronies, we advise you to cease forthwith with such arrangements.

“We cannot hand over our ancestral lands to Fulani invaders whose agenda is land grabbing in disguise and violent takeover in future.

“If you want to understand what we are preventing, study the history of Hausas in the Northern part of Nigeria. Hausas accepted to cohabit with the Fulani from the Sahel in the 18th century.

“We don’t want any RUGA or any such other name they call it in any of our territories. Our people must understand that either free or donations you are going to regret your decision to cede any of our ancestral lands to Fulani for any purpose,” the IPOB spokesperson stated.