By Kassim Omomia, Olusegun Olanrewaju, Ben Ogbemudia and Idu Jude
Many thought the problem had become a ‘passover’. Until President Muhammadu Buhari last week blew more fire into the blazing burner of a grazing routes’ war.

The president last Thursday approved the review of 368 grazing reserves across 25 states of the federation to determine their level of encroachment.

The review committee is headed by the President’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

The development came a few months after 17 southern governors, through their forum, had banned open grazing in their domains.

The governors insisted that there were no grazing routes in the southern part of the country.

Speakers of the southern states’ Houses of Assembly also endorsed the resolutions of the governors at a meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The situation, however, is different in some states in the north where their governors have declared support for the presidential directive.

In fact, some of them had ‘taken steps’, prior to Buhari’s statement, to go back to the ‘abandoned old way’.

Katsina, for instance, said it had reclaimed over 2,000km of cattle routes
Nigerians react

An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Dr. Samson Osagie, who said the president needed to be guided legally, added that the constitution did not support open grazing’’.

Osagie, while canvassing a modernised system of ranching, stated that open grazing was no longer fashionable across the globe.

He said, “Government must pursue other alternatives that will enable those who are affected to have options.”

He added, “Now that the president insists that open grazing routes must be implemented, some governors are thinking of open ranching. I foresee a situation where the different parties will soon approach the court.

Also, a lecturer, Prof. Amadihe Ezugwu, said the Buhari-led administration was taking some unpalatable steps.

“I am not being particular about the issue of grazing reserves, which he wants to impose on Nigerians, but to other previous decisions wrongly taken, and in total disregard to the extant laws.

“As far as I am concerned, and in line with what other Nigerians and, indeed, the southern governors have posited, cattle grazing is a serious private business which individuals can go into and make their money.

“Grazing reserves also have the same features, which private individuals or individual states indulge in to make money.

“So, Buhari had better understand it that way, else he is taking the law into his hands”

Similarly, a former member, Enugu State House of Assembly, Sebastine Ezeama, pointed out the need for Nigerians “to start reading clearly the handwriting on the wall.”

The former lawmaker, who tasked the federal government to be cautious in pursuing the agenda, noted that many states, especially in the southern part of the country would resist the move.

For a public affairs analyst, Dr. Kachy Ononuju, there was ‘a little bit of desperation’ on the side of the Northern cattle breeders in the controversy.

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He, therefore, warned Nigerians to conscious of the implications.

“I know that the North has perfected the move with the kind of President of Senate and Speaker of the Houses of Representatives that we have. I think such an initiative will easily be achieved but the public acceptance may have a negative effect on the existence of Nigeria. With the little we have seen on the fight to protect community lands from being given to the herdsmen, more terrible situations are yet to be seen”

“Have you not heard what the Governor of Benue State said? That Benue people are ready to die to protect their lands even Afenifere, Ohanaeze, PANDEF have made such pronouncement earlier and with this approach by Buhari, the battle line is drawn,” Ononuju added.

Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has also urged the federal government to shelve the idea of reviving the grazing reserves.

The group through its Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, said the restoration of the reserves was just a plan to waste taxpayers money on an initiative the citizens had rejected.

Afenifere also alleged that the move was to forcibly take lands from states to implement the Fulani agenda.

The group said, “Currently, Nigeria has a total of 417 grazing reserves all the country, out of which only about 113 have been gazetted. Thus, the present policy of the Buhari administration on grazing reserves is the implementation of the script by the Fulani intelligentsia.

“The recommendations which pandered to deceptive national solutions to orchestrated farmers/herders clash, nonetheless reek of the smelly stench of ethnic agenda for settlement of the Fulani in the ancestral lands of other ethnic nationalities.
“For the umpteenth time, let the President be told that the constitution which he reveres relentlessly and the Land Use Act which derives equal force therefrom, extols the majesty of the people over their land.

“Even the governor who holds the land in his state in trust for the people cannot dispossess any citizen thereof, except for proven overriding public interest through the due process of law.
“The current exercise is not only a waste of taxpayers money but also a sweet pipe dream in a fool’s paradise. Every herder has a state of origin. Let the governments of the respective states make arrangements for settled life for them in the territory where the culture is fully appreciated”.

Apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Öhanaeze Ndigbo, through its spokesperson, Alex Ogbonnia, said, “Ohanaeze’s position is that Igboland does not have land for grazing.

“Every land in the South-East is owned by God, people and shrines. I don’t understand what you mean by grazing reserves. Ohanaeze’s position on this is no.

“Nigeria runs a federal system of government. Many houses of assembly have passed bills against open grazing, and some of them have been signed into law.

“I am sure that in some states where the open grazing law has been signed, it is in operation.

“Even in the northern region there are some states that have banned open grazing. If the Federal Government wants to impose its will on the states, that is where constitutionalism comes in. I am sure some states will resist the move. It’s meant to arm-twist southern governors over grazing ban.

Ortom’s challenge
Reacting to the issue, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, said the presidential directive would only be turning the country into a ‘Cow Republic’.

The governor, who spoke through his media aide, Tever Akasse, said the presidency was only concerned about animals and their safety.

He also accused the Buhari administration of turning “a blind eye to the unimaginable levels of encroachment on lands belonging to Nigerians by cattle.’’

The governor alleged that the president “has never come out even once to condemn the activities of herdsmen and the attacks they visit on innocent people.”

The governor added, “We challenge the Presidency to name what it has done to alleviate the plight of those displaced by herdsmen in Benue and other states since 2018”.

But the apex group for cattle herders in the country, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), said the move by the Federal Government to review 368 grazing sites across 25 states would douse tension between farmers and herders.