Governor Ayade refuses to sign anti-open grazing law saying herdsmen are his brothers

GOVERNOR Ben Ayade of Cross River State has declared that he will not sign an anti-open grazing bill into law like his contemporaries from across southern Nigeria because Fulani cattle herdsmen are welcome in his state.

Nigeria is currently being torn apart by the menace of marauding Fulani cattle herdsmen who have terrorised the country with their violence. These herdsmen have destroyed farms as their livestock eat farmers’ crops and when local communities complain, the response is for the pastoralists to attack villages with AK47 assault rifles.

Searching for a solution to the crisis, in May this year, the Southern Governors Forum (SGF) met in the Delta State capital Asaba where among other things, it agreed to ban grazing. Since then, all 17 states in the forum have initiated plans to ban open grazing and in some states such as Ondo where the law is already in force, arrests have been made of those who have flouted it.

However, certain northern politicians like Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State, described the anti-open grazing laws as unrealistic and un-implementable. He said that the anti-grazing laws being approved by the southern governors would achieve little in bringing about a lasting solution to the herder-farmer crisis.

Governor Ayade appears to be backing this position, explaining that the anti-open grazing law already passed by some states might lead to war in Nigeria. Describing herdsmen as his brothers, Governor Ayade warned that such laws may lead to anarchy and endanger the entire country.

Among other things, Governor Ayade said that his government would come up with an Open Grazing Management Law that would accommodate both the farmers and herders’ concerns. He added that making herders’ business illegitimate by signing an anti-grazing bill into law was insensitive.

Governor Ayade said: “How would you as a nation legislate to illegitimacy, a legitimate trade of a people, the nomadic herdsmen? You cannot by law make illegitimate a legitimate trade of a people.

“You have a responsibility as an educated person. We sit in the office and that’s why even though certain governors have made it clear that we must pass the anti-open grazing law, I have not because I’ve found a solution to it.

“My herdsmen brothers of north or south extraction, to shut down their trades, stay confined in a place whether they have a pasture or not, it doesn’t matter to me. So, if I have a brother from Yobe State in a semi-arid condition with no grass and having no money to do irrigation to sustain his pasture, will I make his business illegitimate, shut him down and close him from survival?

"That is insensitive. What I think is anarchy, a deliberate invitation to war. That is inviting the nation into war.”

He stated that the new law that will be introduced  by his administration would cater for modern animal farming and  husbandry.  According to the governor, his Open Grazing Management Law would be modular.