Political and religious leaders from the far northern part of the country are mounting renewed pressure on the governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom, to repeal the anti Open Grazing Laws, The Voice can reveal.
A top official in the presidency who disclosed this to The Voice recently said the pressure also include those of some governors from the north who believe that the Benue State governor should repeal the law “in the spirit of one north and one country.
But the spokesman of the state governor, Terver Akase who spoke on the alleged pressure said “the law will not be repealed under any guise”.
According to the government official, the Benue Valley occupies a special place in the minds of herders in the whole of West Africa Sub-region, hence the pressure on the governor to revisit the issue of the law.
“It is believed that any herder who has not grazed in the Benue Valley has not started. Herdsmen believe that if their cows are in the Benue Valley, it increase their fertility. It is a belief that strongly held by most herdsmen in the West Africa sub-region”.
The Voice gathered that at a recent meeting in Lafia, the Nasarawa State Capital, religious and political leaders from the north appealed to Governor Samuel Ortom to revisit the issue of the ban on open grazing, a request that Governor Ortom allegedly said was beyond him to grant.
“The governor told the meeting that the issue was beyond him as the governor. It was at that meeting that I heard for the first time that the Benue State governor initially reluctant to sign the Anti-Open Grazing Law but was literally forced to introduce it as a result of pressure from the people.
“Infact, a representative of the Tor – Tiv told the gathering that the governor only obeyed the call of his people by introducing the law. The governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, was shocked because he said in the governor’s forum, “the belief is that governor Ortom single handedly foisted the law on the state”. He promised to tell his colleagues the true position of things as it affects the law”
Reacting to the pressure Governor Ortom’s spokesman, Mr. Terver Akase said “only Benue people have the power to demand the repeal of the law”.
According to him, “the law will not be repealed under any guise because the Open-Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law was popularly enacted by Benue people through their representatives in the State House of Assembly after Governor Samuel Ortom sent the bill to the House.
“Only Benue people have the power to demand the repeal of the law. The state government introduced the Legislation on behalf of the people. The law is very clear in its provisions on the procedure of acquiring land for the purpose of establishing ranches.
“It is not a law against any ethnic group, so anyone who is against the law is the very person who does not want peace. Those pushing for the repeal of the law are those who benefit from crises, they are the same people responsible for attacks in the state such as Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.
Ranching remains the global best practice of animal husbandry. Population growth has made open grazing impracticable.
We believe in the rule of law. That is why Governor Samule Ortom has consistently challenged those pushing for the repeal of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law to step forward with an alternative better than ranching as a method of animal husbandry. Benue is ready to work with such an alternative”, he said
By The Voice