By Iduozee Paul, Benin
President of One Love Foundation, Mr. Patrick Eholor, says President Muhammadu Buhari, is still clouded by his military days and that is responsible for some of the actions taken by him, a reminder of when he once ruled the country as a military head of state.
He made the statement in Benin City, while reacting to the proposed re-opening of the grazing routes by President Muhammadu Buhari in response to the South-South governors’ ban of open grazing in their states.
Eholor’s said what Nigerians expected when they cast their votes to elect President Muhammadu Buhari was that, hence he was elected under a democratic dispensation, he should be guided by the constitution and rule them with human feelings but to their chagrin, he has refused to let go of his old ways and Nigerians are complaining daily over his leadership style.
“What the president displayed again is divisiveness because the president still thinks that we are still in the military era because when he pulled off his “Khaki,” he came back with Agbada. He has not regained himself and that is why he talks like that because when you talk about grazing and its routes, we are talking about many years ago.
“It means that if the route of grazing is part of my house, when you see my house green with marbles and swimming pool, it means that the cattle is going to destroy it and not just alone, with others”, he said.
Eholor added that Nigeria is not the only country where cattle is reared and the country should emulate the way others have successfully carried out their own without inflicting pains on their citizens. He stressed that should the federal government lack manpower, it should employ the teeming unemployed youth to work in the ranches.
“We also see that Malami, the Attorney General of the federation supported his theory and he also admitted that he is also a Fulani who is supporting open grazing. I hope he knows that we have ranches in Brazil, in Canada, in Zimbabwe, Malawi, in Rwanda and other places.
“We have an army of unemployed youths that read agriculture in school. I think we should be encouraged to have ranches. If the states want to ranch, they can ranch, if an individual wants to ranch, he can ranch. Thinking of walking a cow from the north to the south, is not possible anymore”, he said.
Eholor maintained that the South-South governors have the right to decide what happens in their states because they were also elected like the president was elected by the people.
He called on those advising Buhari to always advise him on policies that would benefit the generality of the people noting, that he is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not that of a section of the federation.
“What we need is a unified president, a president who is not a sectional leader and who wants to unify his people”, he stated.