UNILORIN/Herdsmen Face-Off: Emir Of Ilorin Intervenes

Alh. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, Emir of Ilorin

Emir Of Ilorin Gifts Land To Herdmen To Avoid Clash With Unilorin

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari, has stepped in to calm the rising agitations of people in University of Ilorin, and herdsmen who have vowed not to leave the campus premises.

Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Sulyman AbdulKareem, had said “enough is enough,” in a meeting he had with the herdsmen in 2017, stressing that the institution can no longer condone the destructive activities of their grazing cattle on its land, “as this is becoming too costly for the institution to bear.”

However, Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Kwara State, Alhaji Usman Adamu, called on the government to order authorities of the university not to prohibit the cattle breeders from their home on the campus.

He said that they had been their long before the University even commenced its activities and therefore cannot leave.

Speaking, yesterday, during the annual iftar interaction with newsmen in Ilorin, the Vice Chancellor revealed that the Emir intervened to save the day, by providing a parcel of land at a village, Opolo, in Ilorin South Local Government Area, for the herdsmen as settlement, to douse the brewing tension between the two camps.

According to him, “at that first meeting, I agreed to do the bidding agreed upon by my predecessors. The lucky thing is that after media reports, I got invited to the Emir’s palace.

“I went there and I told the emir exactly what happened. I must thank him for the way he took everything.

“He said he thought we were taking care of everything on our own and not leaving anything for them to input.

“When we told him what we did, he said he had agreed to give a parcel of land in Opolo village, to these herdsmen and he will arrange what will be given to them.

“The last few times that we met the herdsmen, we thought they will live together, but they said that one group, out of the two, will have to migrate somewhere else, but the one that will stay will take the land offered by the emir.

“We pray, again, that they will not bring their cattle to the university land once they are located very close to the university: that is where we stand.”