A group of Fulani herdsmen, on Sunday led their cattle into the Central Business District (CBD), the heart of Abuja city, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in a daring move exactly six days after Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) read the riots act, grazing their cattle in the city center.
Wike had hours after taking the oath of office, on Monday, August 21, vowed to clean up the city, which apart from pulling down buildings illegally set up, included a clear directive that cows must not be seen anywhere near the city centre for the purposes of grazing, a practice, which gained a lot of consistency during the administration of former President, Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Fulani and cattle keeper.
“We cannot allow cows inside the city. It can be outside the city. That is the way it should be done, because the grasses are outside the city. The grasses are not here. These are grasses we planted to beautify the city. The ones in the area councils are the ones that they can eat,” Wike had told reporters, while taking charge of the ministry, the first person from the South to do so, since 1999.
Peoples Gazette, however showed pictures of the cows openly grazing on Sunday, along Goodluck Jonathan Expressway close to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Christian Ecumenical Centre, both situated in the heart of the Abuja city, in its report, which it claimed was filed by 1:52 p.m. on the same day.
The return of the cows at the highbrow location of the CBN, which is situated at Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way, within the CBD, and just a short distance away from Aso Presidential Villa, the paper inferred, was a direct defiance of Wike’s directive, which it reported received positive reactions from Nigerians, many of whom had been appalled by the ugly picture which was one of the hallmarks of the Buhari eight years as President.
While this behavior was criticized, the Buhari administration took no action to address it, allowing herders to graze their cattle from the Jabi district to Asokoro, Maitama, and the Central Business District, where important institutions like the State House, National Assembly, and Supreme Court are located, the paper, said.