Ruga Is Colonialism – Darius Ishaku

Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku, has urged the Federal Government to abolish the Ruga initiative ealier proposed by Buhari led government, because merely suspending it is never enough.

Speaking with newsmen recently in Jalingo, the governor revealed that Ruga initiative was basically colonialism and it has to go.

His words, “Ruga is colonialism; it is not about cattle; it is not even about grasses. It should not only be suspended, but it should also be canceled completely.

“The whole Ruga scheme should be canceled. You can’t do a Ruga in the entire country. I don’t accept it. It is not workable, and it will not work in Taraba state.

“Already, I have in place the Anti-Open Grazing Law in Taraba state that prohibits open grazing but encourages ranching. And we are making a lot of progress on ranching.

“I submitted a request to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for us (Taraba) to be given a loan for us to do the ranching but the CBN has refused to approve it, for reasons I don’t know.

“Otherwise, I would have showcased what ranching is in Taraba state. It is the best form of practice in modern days, if indeed you are talking about cattle, grasses and grazing.

“But I don’t think they (federal government) are talking about cattle; I don’t agree that they are talking about grasses. They are talking of something else, colonisation.”

“I feel very bad that the democratic government of the APC is not living according to the tenets of the constitution. It is disgraceful, embarrassing and insulting.

“I’m shocked that only my party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned the police’s siege on my house. APC didn’t talk about it. Don’t they have governors? Can somebody walk into an APC governor’s house and search it?

“They broke the gate, broke all the doors of my house, threw out my children. I used two years to beg them (children) to come back to Nigeria. Now, one of them has gone back, I’m still begging him to come back to Nigeria. This is nonsense.”