By Cajetan Mmuta
Bishop of the Ihiala Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Prof Israel Okoye has charged governors of the states in the southern geopolitical so e of the country to stick to their promise of ensuring the passage of the anti-open grazing law.
He urged them that as chief security officers of their respective states, they owe their people the duty of protecting them at all times.
Okoye also warned that the insistence of the federal government to support open grazing may drag the nation into the worst food shortage ever experienced across the country.
Okoye stated this on Sunday in a presidential charge he read, during the second session of the fourth synod of the diocese of Ihiala.
The cleric said the controversy about open grazing in Nigeria has become an unfortunate distraction from some fundamental issues on the economy, education, justice, equity, leadership and others, that needed to be addressed.
He said: “Although cattle rearing is a key feature of animal husbandry, their politicization and seeming treatment as national obligations have attracted objection and resentment.”
“The assumption that the constitution confers on cattle the right of movement along Nigerian roads and communities is untrue. Another erroneous stance is that cattle rearing is supported by the federal government, such that herders must be allowed to traverse any part of the country with their cattle as a guarantee for peace.”
“Armed cattle herders now migrate with their cattle to any place of their choice, occupy forests without the consent of the government in charge, to graze their cattle in people’s farms, where they kill, maim and rape women with impunity.
God’s plan for Nigeria will not fail – Rev. Okoye
According to him, “The widely held feet-dragging of the federal government in arresting the fast-spreading dastardly acts of the armed Fulani herdsmen engendered ill feelings among the affected populations.”
Okoye who is also a professor of Political Science at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, before he answered the altar call as a Bishop said if this continued, it would hinder Nigerian farmers from being productive and also lead to food shortage while lamenting that the activities of the Fulani herdsmen have totally corrupted the image of the Fulani people.
“Today, farmers in many parts of Nigeria can no longer go to the farm. If this continues, we run the risk of food shortage in Nigeria, which may lead to starvation.”
“We are living in a time of suffocating anxiety and steady increase in threats to life, dehumanization, and murderous conflicts. No country is spared. The situation is, however, worse in countries whose populations are vulnerable to manipulations premised on parochial sentiments, ignorance, poverty, religion, etc.
“Unfortunately, the aftermaths bite hard on people irrespective of their socio-economic and political positions and faith persuasions.
“We have a generation of frustrated and angry youths who suffer unemployment and underemployment. To worsen the situation, the education system and the economy do not take care of the young ones. Society has paved the way for criminalities.
“Politicians have contributed greatly to insecurity today in society. Governments have failed in their primary responsibility of ensuring that the security of lives and property is guaranteed and jobs provided as well as other dividends of democracy.
“Time was when the privileged few thought that insecurity was for the poor. But the situation has changed. Nobody is now spared.
“Societies that fail to develop their human and material resources in the interest of all their members are bound to reap the fruit of their frustration and anger. Many cases of crime unleashed on governments or sections of the society are launched by some individuals who were not enabled to develop their potentialities and spiritual life, ” the Bishop said.
He urged the federal government to quickly rise up and tackle the menace of insecurity, killings and also to assure rural dwellers in all parts of the country that their safety also matters, just as those of the Fulani.
