Stop advertising your ignorance, RUGA not cattle market, ex-commissioner   replies Kalu 

Stop advertising your ignorance, RUGA not cattle market, ex-commissioner   replies Kalu

By Steve Oko

Former Commissioner for Agriculture, Abia State, Chief Ukwu Rocks Emma,  has told the incumbent Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, to stop advertising his ignorance and shallow knowledge of the true meaning of the suspended controversial Ruga settlement.

Emma spoke on the heels of a press conference granted by Kalu in Abuja  where he reportedly claimed that he pioneered Ruga in Abia while he held sway as Governor in 2001 when he allocated Lokpanta Cattle Market as Ruga for cattle dealers.

The former Governor had said : “When people talk about Ruga, I wonder. In 2001, I did  Ruga in Abia. In Lokpanta, I built it and the cows were being sold in Umuahia and Aba.

“ I had a  meeting with the communities and they agreed in Lokpanta and that is the biggest cow market in both South-East and South-South of Nigeria today. So it is about the attitude of people to issues.”

But in a swift  reaction, Emma   expressed shock and disappointment at the senate Chief Whip’s comment on Ruga, describing it as a display of ignorance.

Emma who was a former Council boss of Bende (Kalu’s home LGA),  said it was embarrassing for a Southern senator to simplify Ruga which has been roundly rejected by the entire Southerner Nigeria as well as Middle Belt because  of its implications.

He said that contrary to Kalu’s claims, what is in Lokpanta is cattle market and not Ruga, insisting that there is no Ruga in any part of Abia.

The ex-Council boss further explained that the land still belonged to the indigenous owners unlike Kalu’s idea of Ruga which takes land away from the owners.

His words :”As a Commissioner for Agriculture, the place Orji Kalu is talking about (Lokpanta cattle market) was under my Ministry.

” Certain activities there also concerned the Ministry of Commerce. It is simply a cattle market transferred from the Old Gariki (Garki) near Amuzukwu Umuahia. There are no Schools, hospitals, Network of roads, FGN-Assited- Community -Infrastructure and no permanent residency.

” It was because of the nuisance this Garki (pronounced as GARIKI)  was causing Umuahia residents that informed relocating the trade to Ubakala. The traders did not like it and Imo State gave them a place at Okigwe along Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, thereby blocking the accruing revenue to Abia.

” Governor Orji Kalu then went further the express to Lokpanta and provided space for the cattle market, thereby collecting the revenue before it will get to Okigwe/Imo State. Today, that spot is the most nasty spot from Enugu to Port Harcourt .

” The cattle traders are tenants and not Landlords. Yet, it is home to the worst type of indiscipline and disregard to public safety to users of the expressway. RUGA would mean Lokpanta times 5000 in Land and times 1,000,000 in infrastructure. Security risk would mean times 5000 times 1,000,000.

“The Senator should consider this to realise what he is wishing his people. But it is obvious he has misunderstood RUGA. Gariki is not RUGA.”

The many-time Bende Council boss  said “Kalu prefers to satisfy Northern interest in his desperation to win their support”.

His words : “I have carefuly read Kalu’s embarrassing remarks on Ruga where he once again showed his true colour as a man ready to go against the interest of his people for pecuniary gains.

“For those who know him, such attitude has been his trade mark and he is unlikely to change but what is appalling is the way a former Governor and senator is desperate to sacrifice the security of those he claims to represent all because of politics.

“We know his fears. We don’t expect less from a man with stolen mandate who is  ready to do or say anything in his desperation to secure his position.

“Kalu knows his days in the senate are numbered that is why he is ready to trade anything including the people’s security to secure his position “.

Emma  said no amount of   anti-Igbo comments could save Kalu from getting away with his “questionable mandate”.

The ex-Commissioner appealed to the people of Abia North not to despair, expressing hope that “very soon your stolen mandate will be recovered”.

He expressed strong faith in the tribunal which he said would correct the “electoral fraud that INEC legitimised to rob the people of their mandate”.

Similarly, former Senator representing Abia North, Senator Emma Nwaka also disagreed with Kalu over his claims that he (kalu)  established Ruga at Lokpanta

The former Chairman of the Democratic Peoples Party, PDP said “contrary to the report in Vanguard newspaper online (14/7/19) credited to Senator Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia State, there’s no Ruga Settlement in Abia State.

“Rather there exists a cattle market at Lokpanta in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State. The land on which the business of buying and selling of cattle takes place  at Lokpanta has not been taken away from the indigenous people of Lokpanta.

“The APC government’s idea of Ruga Settlement contemplates a situation where the indigenous people are dispossessed of their land in perpetuity. That’s not the case at Lokpanta or any other part of Abia State.

“Senator Emma Nwaka”.

Below is a full text of Emma’s reaction :

FOR THE RECORDS, ORJI KALU DID NOT ESTABLISH RUGA IN ABIA STATE. THERE IS NO SUCH THING IN ABIA – Former Commissioner for Agriculture, Abia State.

This rejoinder has become necessary in order not to allow the Nigerian public and the world be deceived by a Senator who should know better than to paint his Constituency Black.

It is either the Senator does not understand RUGA or he has his reasons for trying to mislead the Nation. As a Commissioner for Agriculture, the place Orji Kalu is talking about (Lokpanta cattle market) was under my Ministry.

Certain activities there also concerned the Ministry of Commerce. It is simply a cattle market transferred from the Old Gariki (Garki) near Amuzukwu Umuahia. There are no Schools, hospitals, Network of roads, FGN-Assited- Community -Infrastructure and no permanent residency. It was because of the nuisance this Garki (pronounced as GARIKI)  was causing Umuahia residents that informed relocating the trade to Ubakala.

The traders did not like it and Imo State gave them a place at Okigwe along Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, thereby blocking the accruing revenue to Abia. Governor Orji Kalu then went further the express to Lokpanta and provided space for the cattle market, thereby collecting the revenue before it will get to Okigwe/Imo State.

Today, that spot is the most nasty spot from Enugu to Port Harcourt . The cattle traders are tenants and not Landlords. Yet, it is home to the worst type of indiscipline and disregard to public safety to users of the expressway. RUGA would mean Lokpanta times 5000 in Land and times 1,000,000 in infrastructure. Security risk would mean times 5000 times 1,000,000.

The Senator should consider this to realise what he is wishing his people. But it is obvious he has misunderstood RUGA. Gariki is not RUGA. Enugu gariki was there before Lokpanta . Others too. So if gariki is RUGA , Orji Kalu was not the one who established it in the South East. Again, for those irked by his support for RUGA and advising him to make land available in Igbere or BENDE LGA of Abia State, he does not have our mandate to do that. I know our position on RUGA.

As a former Elected Chairman of Bende LGA and a major Stakeholder, I speak authoritatively on this matter. For emphasis, TRADING SPOTS along major highways are not the same as the proposed (but suspended and really should be cancelled) RUGA SETTLEMENT. If not , ORE along Lagos-Benin, OBOLOAFOR along along Enugu-Markudi, UMUNEDE along Onitsha-Benin-Lagos , LOKOJA along  Kogi-Abuja  expressways would all be called RUGA SETTLEMENTS. My advise therefore to the Senator is to come home and flow with his people who have said NO TO RUGA.

– Hon Ukwu Rocks Emma (the ROCK OF BENDE)

End

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