The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), on Sunday blamed governors of Northern states over the resolutions of Southern saying the resolutions reached by the 17 Southern governors in Asaba, Delta State has exposed their failure to speak up for the rights of northerners.
The coalition, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, accused the northern governors for failing to provide quality leadership in their domains.
The group, which also rejected the ban on open grazing imposed by the Southern governors, said “after critically digesting the Southern governors’ resolutions, particularly on the issues of grazing rights, national dialogue and restructuring,” it is clear the Northern governors were not serious about protecting their people.
According to the CNG the Southern governors were unfair to profile the entire business community of herders as the sole cause of the bulk of the security challenges in the region.
“The Asaba meeting has exposed the extent of the bankruptcy of northern governors who have not, for once, met to take concrete steps to anticipate and checkmate the maneuvers of the south, particularly with the creation of such armed outfits as the Amotekun, Eastern Security Network and recently the Ebubeagu, which are now the tools used to intimidate northerners in the South and to challenge the Nigerian State.
“It also exposed the total failure of the northern governors in the vital area of speaking up for the rights of northerners to be protected from illegal harassment where they earn their living; their rights to places of worship, and their rights to full protection when they live as minorities among other communities in Nigeria.
“The southern governors typically neglected to acknowledge that just as development and population growth has put pressure on available land and increased the prospects of conflict between migrating herders and local populations, so also has the mass movement of millions of people from the south into the vast interior of the North and the permanent nature of this movement.
“CNG also deplores the cowardice of the southern governors in choosing to scapegoat herders and not recognizing that the failure of Buhari/Osinbajo and the APC are solely responsible for Nigeria’s current challenges, and mobilizing their representatives in the National Assembly to support the calls for their impeachment.
“We call on the government to urgently proclaim a National Policy on Grazing and Livestock Development (NPGLD) to cater for the needs of all the pastoral communities everywhere in the country”, the coalition said in the statement.
