Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Thursday dared the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami, SAN, to challenge in court the decision of the Southern Governors Forum banning open grazing in the Southern part of the county, saying the ban has come to stay.
This was contained in a statement signed by Akeredolu and made available newsmen in Akure, the state capital, squared the attorney general for comparing the ban on open grazing to banning all spare parts dealers in the Northern part of the country.
Declaring that there was no going back on the ban, Akeredolu emphasised that open grazing had been outlawed and would be vigorously enforced in the southern part of the country.
The statement was in reaction to a statement credited to the attorney general of the federation.
The statement reads in parts: “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.”
