The Benue State Law Prohibiting Open Rearing and Grazing of Livestock unarguably marks a watershed in the historic struggle to halt the age long crises between Farmers and Fulani Herdsmen over land.
There has been an unending struggle by Farmers to protect their farmland and crops from being forcefully taken over or destroyed by cattle in the name of grazing.
On the other hand, the Pastoralists have overtime suggestively claimed the right of access to any land, especially in the lush green vegetation, whether farm land or not, to graze their animals without recourse to the permission or opinion of the land or crop owners.
While the Herdsmen seek protection under the constitutional provision of citizens’ right to free movement and settlement in any part of the country, the Farmers are quick to point out that the same constitution criminalises trespass and encroachment on other people’s property including land.
The result is the incessant avoidable crises between Herdsmen and Farmers and the oftentimes unwarranted attacks on hapless farming communities by Herdsmen.
The cries and moanings over the killing of defenceless farmers, women and children as well as the destruction of crops and other valuable property, daily reverberate across the Nation.
The crisis is worse in Benue State where the last ten years have witnessed sustained ferocious attacks on farming communities by marauding herdsmen who move about with sophisticated weapons unchallenged.
It is on record that heavy death tolls have been witnessed in these attacks while property worth billions of naira have been destroyed across the State.
From Agatu to Gwer West, Gwer East to Makurdi, Guma to Buruku, Logo to Ukum, Tarka to Gboko, Katsina-Ala to Kwande, the blood of the innocent have been spewed and the landscape has been a picture of blood, tears and sorrow.
In the process, wives have been turned into widows, children into orphans, while farming activities have been severally halted completely or disrupted, across the State.
Efforts by past administrations and well-meaning stakeholders to find lasting solution to the seemingly intractable problem over the years have not achieved the desired objective.
This is why when Governor Samuel Ortom, on assumption of office, began to champion the campaign for ranching of cattle and all other livestock, instead of open-grazing, he had the support of majority of Benue citizens most of who are directly or indirectly victims of the unwarranted attacks on communities of the State by Herdsmen.
The consensus is that once cattle are ranched, as is the practice in the other countries of the world, farmlands will no longer be encroached upon and crops no longer destroyed.
And it follows naturally that once there is no encroachment on farmlands and destruction of crops, there will no longer be crisis and people no longer have to be attacked and killed by the Herdsmen.
This is simply what the Prohibition of Open Rearing and Grazing of Livestock Law 2017 is all about: providing the legal framework for people, especially Herdsmen and Farmers to live in peace.
The process leading to the signing into law of the Prohibition of Open Rearing and Grazing of Livestock Law 2017 by Governor Ortom, beginning from the submission of the Executive Bill to the State Assembly, the public hearings, and its passage by the Legislature, followed due constitutional process and enjoyed the full support of Benue people.
This Law is one achievement of the Ortom Administration that has been commended and received with wide jubilation by well-meaning Benue sons, daughters and residents irrespective of tribal, religious and political differences.
The Law provides that it is an offence for livestock to stray into another person’s land and that there should be no open grazing, no movement of livestock on foot within and across the state, no livestock owner should carry firearms, no person should grab land for the purpose of grazing, no person should rustle cattle or any animal, among others.
Appropriate sanctions are provided for these offences in the Law which clearly provides for and protects the interests of Farmers and Rearers of all forms of livestock including cattle.
Therefore, only those who may perhaps have been benefitting from the crises in the past are, or can be against the Law which has put paid to such benefits from the blood and toil of Benue people.
It is only in this light that we can attempt a comprehension of the recent outburst and threats by the Cattle Breeders Association under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Cattle Kautal Hore over the Law which has criminalized the penchant of some of their members to play God over people’s lives and property.
The outburst of the Group and its threats to fight the Law should worry all well-meaning Nigerians because the posture is not only provocative but offensive to the spirit and letter of the Constitution of Nigeria which empowers State Houses of Assembly to make laws for the well-being of their people as long as such Laws are not in conflict with the provisions of the Constitution.
Kautal Hore’s claim that Fulani herdsmen were the first to occupy the Benue Valley is not only erroneous and fallacious but also a brazen attempt to re-write history in their favour!
The prompt reactions of the State Government, Benue State House of Assembly, Mzough-u-Tiv, VATIM, MAFO and other stakeholders condemning the threats by the Cattle Breeders Association are encouraging but must be sustained and stepped up beyond the shores of the State and Country for the world to be a witness to the gradual manifestation of the grand conspiracy to conquer the Benue Valley particularly Benue State.
Benue indigenes must remain one on this issue because the threat by the Herdsmen organization is a direct challenge to their existence and they must use all legal and diplomatic means to neutralize this threat and others that are likely to come.
Written by Igba Ogbole
Igbaogbole@gmail.com
08138698484
