Cattle Breeders have appealed to Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose to reconsider his decision to outlaw cattle grazing activities across the state.
Fayose gave the orders on Monday 23rd of May 2016, following the death of two in an invasion of Oke Ako Ekiti, a town in Ikole local government area of the state by rampaging Fulani herdsmen.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in a recent media appearance has pleaded with the Governor of the state, to relax the ban on herdsmen and their grazing cattle.
Speaking to Channels Television, Baba Ngelzerma, the secretary general of the association, said that “criminals” not Fulani herdsmen are responsible for the attacks.
“These things are perpetrated by criminals. No doubt what happened is sad but before investigations are conducted, people jump to conclusions that things were done by herdsmen; it may be so, but at least as a governor he should wait and find out who the perpetrators are before apportioning blame.
“The whole of Ekiti state is his responsibility today including strangers that are in the state. Even the cows that are in Ekiti state today, the governor has a responsibility on them.
Ngelzerma asked the governor to show statesmanship, and said the group was ready to negotiate with Ekiti government.
“Our doors are open, we can still go to the governor, we can still discuss and find solutions to these problems,” he said.
“We had a meeting with our elites from different fields of human endeavours to find solutions to these problems. We are calling on the governor of Ekiti state to show a lot of statesmanship.
“You cannot blame an entire group for a crime committed by few. There was a situation in Ore where a watchman killed a herdsman, we did not take law into our hands, instead we reported to the police.
“We cannot say that the Yoruba people are responsible for that. If you stop the Fulanis from grazing, where should they go?”.
Stating actions that have been taken, Ngelzerma expressed the readiness of the association to put an end to the situation.
He said the association had been collaborating with security agencies to find a last solution to the problem.
“A lot have been going on regarding this issue and different factions of the government have been looking into it. We have been having meetings with the defence headquarters and the police, hands are on deck to resolve the issue.”
It’s Neither Political or Personal, says Fayose
Meanwhile, Fayose has said he has nothing against the Fulani, explaining that he only decided to act in order to “check to the excesses of herdsmen”.
He said his decision to ban grazing was not political, but a standard practice which obtained in developed countries.
“The issue of incessant attacks on communities across the country by the herdsmen is a time bomb and it should not be allowed to get out of hand. The earlier will stop the menace the better for us as a nation,” he said at the funeral ceremony of Viola George, mother of Bode George, top chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“This has nothing to do with politics or where one comes from in the country. Who knows who the next victim could be? The attack is spreading across the country and I call on other state governors as well as political, religious and community leaders across the country to see the issue as a national one that we all must address.
“Like I have said earlier, the solution is that those rearing cows should have ranches to keep them. In advanced nations, they engage in animal husbandry too and they don’t allow their animals to just roam about.”
The governor who announced the ban during his condolence visit to the town advised those interested in cattle rearing in the state to get their own private cattle ranches.
According to him,“I have come here to commiserate with the people of Oke-Ako over the murder of two of our people by these Fulani herdsmen.
“I am also here to assure that this will be the last time our communities will be invaded by Fulani herdsmen under whatever guise.
“No more movement of cattle from one location to another in the state and any cattle seen anywhere in Ekiti State apart from the ranch created for them by their owners will be confiscated by the government and their owners will be prosecuted.
“A bill to this effect will be sent to the House of Assembly for passage into law to criminalise cattle owners whose cattle are found moving from one location to the other in the state.
“It is our duty to protect our people and we are going to do that without fear or favour”, Fayose said. The sum of N5million and a brand new bus was donated by the governor to local hunters in the community to complement efforts of security agents already deployed in the town.
He also announced donation of a sum of N2.5m to families of the two men that lost their lives to the invasion.
The post Fayose bans cattle grazing in Ekiti, Miyetti Allah appeals using dangerous rhetoric appeared first on The Whistle.
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