BEVERLY HILLS, May 26, (THEWILL) – The Presidency says that President Muhammadu Buhari does not support open grazing of cattle.
THEWILL records that coming barely 48 hours after a statement by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, purportedly speaking for Buhari, blasted the 17 Southern Nigeria governors as overreaching themselves in banning roaming cattle, which provoked a scathing response from Ondo’s Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, The Presidency’s new position appears to navigate the subject in a more accommodating and diplomatic tone.
“The President wants to see an end to open grazing; he wants to see ranching, but he wants it in a way that’s organised and he has a plan for it and the plan will take off in June”, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu said during an interview on Arise News.
Shehu said the objective of the President and that of other parts of the country must align.
THEWILL reports that the Southern governors in a meeting at Asaba, in Delta State, resolved to ban open grazing and movement of cattle by foot in the region over cases of kidnappings and killings that had been traced to criminal and killer herders.
The governors also called for restructuring the Nigerian system and urged Buhari to address the nation.
While the resolutions were cheered by many, Nigeria’s Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, and the Presidency publicly opposed the ban on open grazing by the southern governors.
Malami said the governors’ decision was against the constitutional right of freedom of movement for other Nigerians who were herders.
But the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, challenged Malami to sue southern governors over the ban.
However, Shehu after retreating from his earlier stance, said that the only difference between the positions of both parties was the approach to achieving the aim, adding that the President was insistent that it should be done in an organised manner.
Reacting to the backlash from his previous statement on behalf of Buhari, Shehu said all the ongoing attacks on the President were from people in the mood for a public fight.
He said states that were able to meet the minimum requirements would be encouraged to embark on ranching, and expressed optimism that those opposed to ranching would change their minds when it became fully functional.
Shehu said the President viewed open grazing as old-fashioned and was looking forward to a replacement for the medieval practice.
But he reiterated that banning open grazing without an alternative was not a good approach to the issue.
He said the President was worried about the crisis generated by the matter, adding that the generalisation of every herder as criminal was not the right thing to do.
While admitting that the ranks of the nomads had been infiltrated by people now bearing AK-47 rifles to kill and maim, Shehu called for calm as the issue won’t be solved by a public show of strength.
