The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has asked the military to direct its operations Python Dance and Crocodile Smile to those areas in Nigeria where Fulani herders have been said to be killing people and destroying farmlands.
Fayose listed those areas as the North-Central states of Benue and Plateau as well as North-East States like Taraba and Adamawa.
The governor, who described the reported threat by Miyeitti Allah Kautal Hore, a splinter group of Miyeitti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, against the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Law as reckless and open threat against the sovereignty of Nigeria, said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government was silent over the menace by Fulani herders.
He said the President’s silence was “a sign of complicity” on the part of the Federal Government.
In a statement in Ado Ekiti, at the weekend, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said, “If the Federal Government does not want to be seen as protecting the Fulani herdsmen, attention of the Army’s python that is dancing in the South-East and crocodile that is smiling in the South-West and South-South should be focused on the killer herdsmen.”
He said the alarm raised by Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom over an alleged plan by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to launch fresh attacks on Benue State, should worry lovers of peace in Nigeria, adding, “the moment a state governor begins to raise alarm as done by Ortom, those playing ostrich to the Fulani herdsmen menace should know that they can no longer pretend that all is well.”
Meanwhile, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has called on the Federal Government, the National Assembly (NASS) and the international community to intervene in the Anti-Open Grazing Law operating in Benue State.
The Chairman of the association, Danladi Ciroma, made the call, yesterday, at a news conference in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
He said the law was implemented without due consultation with herdsmen in the state.
He added that “Our people were not educated on modern method of rearing cattle so that when provision for ranching was being made, government would take into consideration the total number of cattle in the state.
“We do not know the grass we need to grow and how it is grown, where to get it and how to preserve it for the cattle.”
He explained that countries like Kenya that successfully implemented ranching system spent more than five years educating herdsmen and provided the much-needed facilities before it was implemented.
He added that the state did not take any step before enacting the law.
The Chairman of the association in Nasarawa State, Malam Mohammed Hussaini, said the implementation of the law in Benue led to influx of herdsmen and their cattle to Nasarawa, noting that the situation should be checked to avert conflicts between herdsmen and farmers.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Nasarawa, Idrisu Kennedy, however, gave the assurance that measures were being taken to avert any incident.
The PPRO explained that the efforts of the police and other security agencies, as well as that of the state government and traditional rulers were geared toward averting breakdown of law and order in the state.
Our source reports that the chairman of association in Benue and other herdsmen from North Central states attended the news conference.
The Benue State Government had enacted an anti-open grazing law and fixed November 1, 2017 as date to commence its implementation.
The state government stated that the law was in line with Section 4(7)(a) of the Constitution, Section 1 of the Land Use Act Chapter 202 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
The section states that all land comprised in the territory of each state in the federation are vested in the governor of that state and such land shall be held in trust and administered for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
To this end, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom said it was in the spirit and letters of those enabling laws of the land that the Open Grazing (Prohibition) and Establishment of Ranches Law, 2017 was proposed and was judiciously enacted by Benue State House of Assembly.