…Pledge support for Atiku
Some farmers from the North-west geo-political zone have pledged to support the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
The farmers, who spoke at the weekend, during a town hall meeting organised by Atiku’s campaign council, said they are confident that if elected, Atiku will address insecurity and other challenges bedevilling farmers in the region.
During the meeting, which was attended by farmers from Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Kebbi States, the Atiku campaign council promised to tackle the farmers-herders crisis, if its candidate was elected president in February. Atiku was represented at the event by a former Kano State Commissioner for Agriculture and an aide to former president Goodluck Jonathan, Baraka Sani.
The Chairman of the Sorghum and Millet Farmers’ Association, in Sokoto state, Ashiru Lawan, told newsmen after the event that insecurity and the propensity of politicians to hijack the distribution of farming inputs are affecting production.
According to him, “The biggest challenge now in Southern Sokoto is insecurity, which has prevented us from cultivating our land. Our quest for a solution to the problem makes us travel to Kano to engage stakeholders”.
Lawan’s counterpart from neighbouring Kebbi State, Nafi’u Muhammad, also lamented the ravaging insecurity and poor support from the government to the farmers. He said, “What we want from the presidential candidate of the PDP is to ensure that peace returns to our respective communities, in order to enable our people to return to their farms”.
Terrorist gangs, which were hitherto considered as bandits, have been attacking communities and travellers mainly in Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kebbi States, and have caused the displacement of millions of people, with thousands of people either killed or abducted by these gangs. The unprecedented violence in the region has disrupted farming activities in the region.
The Federal Government has deployed security personnel to the region; however, the killings and kidnapping have continued unabated.
