{"id":69039,"date":"2025-06-25T17:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=69039"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:02:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:02:32","slug":"ipob-rejects-tinubus-abuja-ranch-plan-calls-it-hidden-ruga-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/06\/25\/ipob-rejects-tinubus-abuja-ranch-plan-calls-it-hidden-ruga-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"IPOB Rejects Tinubu\u2019s Abuja Ranch Plan, Calls It Hidden RUGA Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Samuel Adeola<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has condemned President Bola Tinubu\u2019s plan to establish a cattle ranch in Abuja, calling it a hidden version of the rejected RUGA project.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday, IPOB\u2019s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, described the plan as a \u201cland-grabbing strategy\u201d aimed at rewarding killers and promoting \u201cFulani imperial expansionism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIPOB strongly condemns the announcement by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu proposing the establishment of cattle ranches in Abuja, the ancestral homeland of the Gbagyi people,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Powerful claimed that the move mirrors how the Fulani allegedly took control of Hausa lands in the past, warning that the Gbagyi people could suffer the same fate if the plan isn\u2019t stopped.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cWhat began as the \u2018need for grazing\u2019 centuries ago led to the total subjugation of proud Hausa kingdoms\u2026 Abuja is about to witness the same fate if this madness is not stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

IPOB criticised the government for allegedly focusing more on cows than on education, security, and innovation, questioning why cattle should be kept near Nigeria\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet him point to any major city, from Nairobi to New Delhi, S\u00e3o Paulo to Seoul, where cattle are granted permanent settlements around central governance zones,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Powerful also warned that the plan may encourage violence: \u201cThe message to Fulani herders is clear: kill enough indigenous people and the government will reward you with their land.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described it as \u201cstate-sanctioned terrorism\u201d and an \u201cact of aggression\u201d against the Gbagyi people, who he said have no other homeland.<\/p>\n

Powerful warned that if nothing is done, \u201cthere will be an Emir of Abuja,\u201d and the Gbagyi could become \u201crelics of their own heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed that IPOB will resist any attempt to create cattle settlements in Biafraland, insisting that their forests, farmlands, and villages are not \u201cbargaining chips in a federal contract of death.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggested the government should move cattle far from human communities and use the railway system, saying, \u201cSambisa forest is reportedly vast enough to contain all the herds in West Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to him, IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had earlier advised that no modern country moves cattle on foot or builds ranches near schools and homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIPOB stands with the Gbagyi people and every other indigenous nationality facing existential threats from Fulani neo-colonial conquest dressed up as national policy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the killings in the name of cows stop. Let the bloodletting cease. Let Nigeria choose reason over ruin.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Samuel Adeola The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has condemned President Bola Tinubu\u2019s plan to establish a cattle ranch in Abuja, calling it a hidden version of the rejected RUGA project. In a statement on Wednesday, IPOB\u2019s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, described the plan as a \u201cland-grabbing strategy\u201d aimed at rewarding killers and promoting \u201cFulani […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":69040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-69039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69041,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69039\/revisions\/69041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}