Afterseveral attacks in which many lives and property were lost in Benue,
Fulani herdsmen have finally agreed to obey the Benue Anti-Open Grazing
Law but with conditions.
Leader of the NEC Subcommittee on farmers
and herdsmen skirmishes and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi who
disclosed this in Makurdi yesterday
after an exhaustive meeting with all parties in Benue and Nasarawa
states said that the herdsmen had asked for more time to enable them key
into the implementation of the law and that the Federal Government
should see animal husbandry as part of its agricultural programme.
Umahi who read the position of the
committee to newsmen, disclosed that all parties to the crises are
committed to ceasefire even as he noted that the problem of invasion by
undocumented herdsmen from other parts of West Africa was extensively
discussed.
He said the committe has also restated
its commitment to pursue peace, ensure disarmament of any militia groups
as well as the arrest of any group harbouring militia and support
security agencies to ensure the arrest of anyone in possession of arms.
Umahi who noted that there are about two
million hectares of land in 13 states of the northern region for grazing
reserve out of which one million hectares have been gazetted and
developed, urged the herdsmen to make use of the already gazetted and
developed grazing reserves while states that have anti open-grazing law
in place are also free to operate their laws.
The team also visited both Benue and
Nasarawa states on a fact finding mission where they found 117,000
people in seven internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Benue and
25,000 IDPs in Nasarawa out of which 20,000 are Tiv people who are
indigene of Nasarawa State.
He requested the Federal Government to
immediately send the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to
Benue and Nasarawa to evaluate the problems in the camps to see how the
IDPs can be assisted.
Umahi who described the condition of the
IDP camps as very pathetic observed that in all the camps across the two
states, children between ages four and eight years constitute over
80percent of the IDPs.
Umahi who said the claims that Benue belonged to Fulani
by conquest was never made but was carried by social media, posited
that, “In our own conviction, we believe that Benue has the right to
make laws and whoever stays in Benue has the duty to obey the law and
the responsibility to dialogue with the state if they feel the law will
not favour them.”
Meanwhile, Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko
Al-Makura has disclosed that his administration will not enact anti-open
grazing law in the state, adding that Nigeria belongs to everybody.