Okorocha clears the air, says ‘No Cattle Colony in Imo, But Cattle Market
Following continuous social media posts by Imo indigenes that the Governor had sold them out by being the first South East Governor to endorse the controversial Cattle Colony, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has made it clear once more that “I said that what the state has was Okigwe Cattle Market and not Cattle Colony”.
According to him, “let no one misunderstood me, what the state government has been doing even before the herdsmen crisis is to encourage indigenes of the state to go into the cattle business because it is lucrative and that government would continue to support them through the Okigwe Cattle Market.
Governor Okorocha also argued that it is absolutely wrong to associate the Fulanis with the killer herdsmen, insisting that the herdsmen who kill should be treated as criminals, and they should not be used to stigmatise the Fulanis who have men and women who have largely contributed to nation – building.
He said “The fact remains that no one in this country has the right to take another person’s life in whatever disguise. For herdsmen to kill anybody is not right and that must be condemned. But it is wrong to stigmatise the Fulani race because of the actions of some of the herdsmen. We must call a criminal a criminal irrespective of where the person comes from.”
“We cannot be calling Igbo Kidnappers or 419ers or Niger Delta people terrorists or militants or Hausa people Boko Harams or Fulani people killer herdsmen because of the activities of few criminals from their areas. That is the issue. A criminal is a criminal irrespective of tribe or religion. We cannot allow certain sentiments to becloud our sense of reasoning.”
Governor Okorocha made the clarification while playing host to national leaders of the Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim led by its Supreme Head, the Prelate His Eminence Solomon Alao, at the Government House, Owerri.
