Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has insisted that the southern governors’ ban on open grazing would be enforced with “vigour”.
The governor’s statement on Thursday followed comments by the attorney-general of the federation Abubakar Malami on Wednesday that the decision to ban open grazing was unconstitutional.
Responding in his capacity as leader of the Southern Governors Forum, Akeredolu said in a statement by his spokesperson Olabode Richard that it was most “unfortunate that the AGF is unable to distil issues as expected of a Senior Advocate.”
“Nothing can be more disconcerting,” he continued. “This outburst should, ordinarily, not elicit a response from reasonable people who know the distinction between a legitimate business that is not in any way injurious and a certain predilection for anarchy.
“Clinging to an anachronistic model of animal husbandry, which is evidently injurious to the harmonious relationship between the herders and the farmers as well as the local populace, is wicked and arrogant.
“Comparing this anachronism, which has led to loss of lives, farmlands and property, and engendered untold hardship on the host communities, with buying and selling of auto parts is not only strange. It, annoyingly, betrays a terrible mindset.”
Akeredolu also urged Malami “to approach the court to challenge the legality of the Laws of the respective States banning open grazing and decision of the Southern Governor Forum taken in the interest of their people.”
“We shall be most willing to meet him in Court. The decision to ban open grazing stays. It will be enforced with vigour,” he added.
