No going back on Benue anti-grazing bill

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom says there is no going back on the anti-grazing bill to be put in place by his administration as a way of bringing to an end the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers in his state.

Ortom made this assertion while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the National Security Summit which recently held in Abuja.

The National Security Summit organised by the Nigeria Police, was essentially to get all major leaders in the affected areas of the country involved in finding a lasting solution to the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen and bring an end to the loss of lives and razing of homesteads that result from these clashes.

The solution to the issue as suggested by Religious and Traditional Rulers was for Nigerians to develop a sense of tolerance and understand that the country’s greatest strength was its diversity.

The Benue State Governor has devised his own solution to the problem and it is in form of an anti-grazing bill which stipulates that all herdsmen that must operate within the borders of the state must ranch their cattle.

It has met with resistance by the umbrella body of cattle herdsmen nationwide the Miyetti Allah, but Governor Ortom insists that instead of just raising objections the umbrella body should come up with solutions to the crisis if it has any.

Ortom does admit that the crisis is in Benue State is not restricted to Farmer-herdsmen clashesand decries the rampages on the state by a self styled militant “Gana” whom he believes has ties to Boko Haram.

He is confident that with recent strategies put in place by the Security agencies, the reign of terror the militant and his followers had wrought on Benue State, will soon be a thing of the past.

He urges all residents of Benue state to readily report suspicious activities, whether related to farmer-herdsmen clashes or to the activities of the militant Gana, in order to help Government better protect it people.