Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the Governor of Ondo State, has asserted that the anti-open grazing law is here to stay.
Akeredolu, also the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, endorsed the Anti-Grazing Bill passed by the State House of Assembly, despite Miyetti Allah’s declaration that its members would not recognize any anti-open grazing policy in the country (read here).
In response, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai stated that the anti-open grazing law implemented by the southern governors is not feasible (read here).
Akeredolu, in reply to El-Rufai, affirmed the permanence of the law.
Speaking through the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, Akeredolu declared: “There is no wisdom in condemning/banning open grazing, prohibiting inter-border movement of cattle in the North, including Kaduna, with an accompanying disapproval of a law that gives bite to the same, in another part of the country.
“For emphasis, any such comment like that of the Kaduna Governor, if indeed he made that statement, merely seeks to encourage anarchy under the guise of resentment of a Law by affected stakeholders.
“It’s a ploy beyond the ordinary. It must, however, be noted that the Anti-Grazing Law, especially in Ondo State, has come to stay. It shall be zealously guarded and conscionably deployed to protect all residents of Ondo State, notwithstanding their ethnic and religious biases. Those who have nothing evil to perpetrate have nothing to fear as regards the Law.”