National Water bill will set Nigeria on fire, Ohanaeze, Middle Belt, SMBLF warn

 

Groups have begin to raise alarm over the National water bill which they said may set Nigeria on fire.

The bill since its introduction has been greeted with disdain by teeming Nigerians.

The Ohanaeze Nidigbo, Middle Belt Forum and the Southern-Middle Belt Leaders Forum have added their voice to warn against the Bill.

A co- spokesman of the SMBLF , Yinka Odumakin , in an interview with The PUNCH, said , “ Freedom -loving Nigerians should be ready for protracted resistance to this move to grab land around waterways for Miyetti Allah by the executive arm of the government . ”

On its part, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo , the Igbo apex socio -cultural organisation said the bill would not only be rejected again but would also challenged for its legality.

The National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo , Prince Uche Achi -Okpaga who spoke with one of correspondents, said that “ It is a tinder box that must certainly explode if they choose to embark on such a precipitous peregrination” .

Prince Achi -Okpaga said , “ There is no gain saying that the implication is as envisaged that the Federal Government will acquire the water ways from the people and keep the same at the disposal of unwelcome visitors or aliens; a clear, unfair and natural case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“ When Nigerians fail to resist such ungodly act the next would be an Act to take our compounds from us so that we begin to operate in oblivion. ”

Also the Middle Belt Forum warned the National Assembly against conniving with the Federal Government to return the bill , warning that if passed, it “ would set Nigeria on fire ”

National President of the Middle Belt Forum , Dr Bitrus Porgu , gave the warning while speaking to one of our correspondents in Jos on Thursday.

Porgu said that the reason which made Nigerians to reject the bill in the first place had not changed as it was “ a ploy by the Muhammadu Buhari -led regime to confiscate the ancestral land of Nigerians through the backdoor and transfer their ownership to his Fulani kinsmen. ”