South-East stakeholders operating under the umbrella of Concerned Igbo Groups have firmly rejected the implementation of any RUGA project in the South-East region, describing the initiative as "reverse colonisation" that offers no commercial value to the people.

In a statement released on Monday, the groups emphasized that cattle rearing is a private business and vowed to resist any attempts to establish RUGA settlements in Igbo land.

The joint statement was signed by Ben Nwankwo and Evans Nwankwo, Executive Directors of Ambassadors for Self-Determination, USA; Sylvester Onyia, President of American Veterans Of Igbo Descent (AVID); Maxwell Dede of Rising Sun Group; and Rev. Father Augustine Odimegwa.

The groups alleged that the Federal Government's plan to establish RUGA settlements in the South-East is a hidden agenda to take over their ancestral lands and hand them to Fulani settlers under the guise of agricultural development.

"We the concerned people of Igbo land have said it before and we are saying it again, there is no land for RUGA anywhere in Igbo land — not today, not tomorrow, not ever," the statement declared.

The groups highlighted the severe land shortage in the South-East, noting that the region has over 800 people per square kilometer, making it the most densely populated area in Nigeria.

"We are already struggling to find land for farming, housing, and industries. So how can anyone expect us to give out land for cows? If the government is serious about ranching, let them go to Niger State, which has over 76,000 square kilometres of land — far more than the whole of the South-East put together," they stated.

The stakeholders expressed serious concerns about the security implications of the RUGA project, particularly in light of recent violence in Benue State that resulted in significant loss of life and property. They pointed to the Lokpanta cattle market in Abia State, which they claim has become a center for crime, kidnapping, and killings.

In a direct warning to Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the groups cautioned against any negotiations related to RUGA implementation.

"We are using this medium to warn Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State. Stop playing with Igbo lives. Stop negotiating with our blood. You were not elected to sell our land or our future," the statement emphasized.

The groups also alleged that some governors and politicians in the South-East may have received bribes of N6 billion each to support the RUGA project, calling on them to return what they termed "blood money."

While clarifying that they are not against Igbo people engaging in livestock business on their private lands, they rejected any federal land acquisition under the RUGA scheme.

"What we reject is a plan that will turn us into strangers on our own land, where outsiders come, settle, multiply, and eventually take over our communities. That is reverse colonisation, and we will never allow it," the statement concluded.

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