Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa on Sunday, received an open letter from Fulani-Jihadist giving him a 72-hour ultimatum to reverse the ban on open grazing.
According to Vanguard, the open letter which threatened the lives of residents of Asaba was posted in some parts of the state.
One of the places the letter was pasted includes the premises of the Living Faith Bible Church (aka Winners Chapel), Infant Jesus Road in Asaba, the Fulani jihadist vowed to carry out their threat if Okowa does not withdraw his support for the ban on open grazing within 72 hours.
The Fulani fundamentalists in the letter, entitled “Fulani Jihadist Warning: An Open Message of 2 Paragraphs To Delta State.”
It reads: “This is to inform Delta State that the Fulanis of Usman Dan Fodio leadership shall do everything it can to uphold the legacy of our heritage of open grazing, for we are nomadic people from origination and shall never negotiate the ownership of Nigeria and West Africa and sub-Sahara.
“We, hereby, ask the governor of Delta State to immediately withdraw his earlier stand on the ban of open grazing in 17 regions in not less than 72 hours from the above date and also withdraw his position as the leading voice of the governors, even before the hosting of the South-South, South-East and South-South governors meeting in Asaba.
“Failure to adhere to this demand for being the host of the 17 governors, Delta State, most likely the city of Asaba and Agbor, shall encounter severe consequences than that of Bornu, Kebbi, Kastina, Kaduna, Enugu, Benue, Oyo and many more that will not respect the Fulani’s heritage.
In the letter, they claimed responsibility for the detonated explosive found in the state secretariat. And advised all Fulanis and Hausas in the state to vacate the area as they are counting down to strike the state capital, Asaba if Okowa failed to reverse the ban of open grazing in all the 17 southern states in 72-hour.
“We take responsibility for the detonated explosive uncovered in the state secretariat, which should serve as a warning to the Delta State government for what is to come, should the governor fail to abide by our demand.
“We advise all Fulanis and northerners, including the security personnel, to leave Delta State as soon as possible for the wind of our action is now present in the land. For failure of the governor to adhere to our call, this shall leave us with no choice.”
You will recall, the governors of the 17 southern states met weeks ago to deliberate the solution to herdsmen attacks on farmers in the region and come to the conclusion to ban open grazing of cattle in the region. The decision was however rejected by the federal government through the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
According to Malami, the ban on open grazing violates the right of herdmen to free movement in the region.
Also in an interview with Arise TV on Saturday, President Muhammadu Buhari said he has directed Malami to open the gazette to trace back the grazing tracks adding that it is time to bring back the grazing tracks across the nation.
However, the open letter received by Okowa was not signed.