Grazing ban irreversible, Akeredolu hits back at Malami

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has said there is no going back on the decision of Southern governors to ban open grazing.

He said this in response to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), who faulted the action of the Southern governors.

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Malami had described the action of the Southern governors as illegal, wondering how they would feel if their northern counterparts prohibit spare parts trade.

But in a statement he personally signed, Akeredolu defended the action of the Southern governors and asked Malami to challenge it in court.

Both Malami and Akeredolu are Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

“I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami SAN on the resolution of the Southern Governors Forum to ban open grazing in their respective States. The AGF is quoted to have said that this reasoned decision, among others, is akin to banning all spare parts dealers in the Northern parts of the country and is unconstitutional.”

“It is most unfortunate that the AGF is unable to distill issues as expected of a Senior Advocate. Nothing can be more disconcerting. This outburst should, ordinarily, not elicit response from reasonable people who know the distinction between a legitimate business that is not in anyway injurious and a certain predilection for anarchy. Clinging to an anachronistic model of animal husbandry, which is evidently injurious to harmonious relationship between the herders and the farmers as well as the local populace, is wicked and arrogant.

“Comparing this anachronism, which has led to loss of lives, farmlands and property, and engendered untold hardship on the host communities, with buying and selling of auto parts is not only strange. It, annoyingly, betrays a terrible mindset.

“Mr Malami is advised to approach the court to challenge the legality of the Laws of the respective States baning open grazing and decision of the Southern Governor Forum taken in the interest of their people. We shall be most willing to meet him in Court. The decision to ban open grazing stays. It will be enforced with vigour,” the governor said.