By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State has lamented that a lot of people have a misconception about the Biafra agitation.
Mr Umahi, who doubles as the Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, stated that the people of the region of the country want to be a part of a fair Nigeria where justice, equity and freedom exist.
Speaking at the State House Briefing on Thursday in Abuja, the Governor said, “The situation in the South-East is a mixture of reality, fake news and war propaganda.
“There are rightful agitations in the South-East, but they’ve been hijacked. In the South-East, we don’t want war, we don’t want to secede, we want to be a part of a fair Nigeria where justice, equity and freedom exist.”
He endorsed the ban on open grazing, saying it’s the right decision, especially in the South-East, which he said does not have historical grazing routes/reserves.
Governor Umahi called on the federal government to do more to enforce implement ranching and business-led models for livestock management.
“Our law in Ebonyi is that if you attack farmers or herders and destroy their farmlands/cattle, you must pay compensation,” he further stated.
The Governor said Imo and Ebonyi States’ Houses of Assembly have passed laws giving backing to the Ebube Agu Security Corps, a regional security cooperation to protect the people, in their states, adding that others in the region will follow.
While speaking about some of the programmes of his administration in Ebonyi State, he said, “Everywhere you turn in my state is a construction site.”
According to him, 95 per cent of “our construction projects in Ebonyi State are done by direct labour, so, there is no capital flight as most of the money stays in the state.”
“We are building roads to ensure that there is no part of Ebonyi State that cannot be accessed from a local government area headquarters within 40 minutes.
“Building roads is an important part of development and we don’t care which ones are federal or state roads,” Mr Umahi stated.
He added that Ebonyi is developing three industrial agriculture clusters – comprising land, warehouses, biomass energy supply, factories and mills for processing rice, cassava and others.
