The signing of the Anti-open grazing law by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has been rejected by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).
Recall that the governor had on Tuesday signed the anti-open grazing bill into law to prohibit the open grazing of cattle in the state and to curb insecurity in the state.
Akeredolu said he assented to the bill in line with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum at its last meeting in Lagos where the governors set September 1st as the deadline for signing of the Anti-Open Grazing Bill into law.
But in an interview on Thursday on Arise News, MACBAN Secretary-General, Usman Baba-Ngelzerma, accused the Ondo State House of Assembly of not following due processes in making the anti-open grazing law.
He stated that none of the MACBAN members was invited for a public hearing and to make inputs to the law before it was signed by the governor.
“In most of the states, none of our members has been invited for a public hearing and makes inputs to the law and this law is done to affect us 100%, to affect our members 100%. We are part of the critical stakeholders that are supposed to be invited to hear our views and protect our positions and that of the government of the states where we exist.
“So, we will wait and see how this law is going to be implemented but I will like to draw the attention of Ondo to Benue where a law has been put in place. Go and appraise the Benue law, has it succeeded in bringing peace to Benue? It has never succeeded in bringing peace to Benue. Rather, it has further aggravated the situation to become worse, day in day out.
“Laws are supposed to bring harmony and understanding in a community.”