Grazing reserve: Jang accuses Plateau governor of ceding peoples land

Immediate past Governor of Plateau State and Senator representing Plateau North, Jonah David Jang has berated Governor Simon Bako Lalong for endorsing the bill on grazing reserve describing the action as a subtle attempt to cede the peoples land and urged the citizens of the State to reject any law or request that seeks to tamper with their heritage.

 Jang, who made his position known in a statement issued by his media aid, Clinton Garuba, stated that he does not and will not support any issue on grazing reserve stressing that the Lalong administration was playing politics with issues that affect the very fabric which defines the “heritage of our people, their culture and their land. Plateau people must rise against any subtle attempt or otherwise to cede their land for the purpose of satisfying the selfish and egotistical whims of a few who are hell bent on disturbing the peace.”

 The statement noted that “As a people who have experienced the atrocities of those who seek to take over their land by whatever means, Plateau people must be resilient in rejecting any law or request that seeks to tamper with their heritage, not even the involvement of the Government of the day should deter them.”

 Jang while accusing his successor of lack of interest in developing agriculture in the state wondered why he suddenly supports a policy which the Senator says is neither in the interest of people nor that of public good adding that, “For the Federal Government which owns no cattle, to connive with willing State Governors to impose a grazing reserve policy on hapless citizens who have suffered the brunt of rampaging herdsmen in the no distant past is not only an abuse of their rights but an assault on their already battered psyche. This must vehemently be resisted.”

 However, Governor Simon Bako Lalong yesterday described Jang’s comment as sad, noting that “Senator Jonah Jang has suddenly found his voice in the midst of the silence that has characterized his representation of the Northern Senatorial district in the Senate."

Lalong in a statement issued by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Samuel Emmanuel Nanle noted that the “blatant condemnation of the grazing reserve policy as being anti-people, without the depth of knowledge as to the content of the policy and many options for cattle rearing, livestock farming and improved animal husbandry which it contains is an eloquent testimony of his ‘we’ versus ‘them’ classification of citizens, even when the preservation of the common humanity of the human being should be held sacrosanct.”

 The statement explained that the issue of grazing reserve and ranches are options that are entirely within the purview of the customary land owners and local councils to volunteer for the benefits of their people adding that “Governor Lalong has not at any point acquired compulsorily any land in any locality for the purpose of ceding to any ethnic group or faith."

The statement added that "it is public knowledge that this is incongruent to his person and people oriented leadership character.”