Governor Rotimi Akeredolu SAN of Ondo State on Thursday slammed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, for his statement on the ban of open grazing by southern governors, which the minister on Wednesday said is unconstitutional.
Governor Akeredolu insisted that the decision of the southern governors at the consultative meeting in Asaba, Delta State, is “irreversible.”
Akeredolu in a statement in Akure on Thursday morning by his media aide, Olabode Richard, contended that it is most “unfortunate that the AGF is unable to distil issues as expected of a Senior Advocate. Nothing can be more disconcerting.
“This outburst should, ordinarily, not elicit a response from reasonable people who know the distinction between a legitimate business that is not in any way injurious and a certain predilection for anarchy.”
The Ondo Governor declared: “clinging to an anachronistic model of animal husbandry, which is evidently injurious to the harmonious relationship between the herders and the farmers as well as the local populace, is wicked and arrogant.
“Comparing this anachronism, which has led to loss of lives, farmlands and property, and engendered untold hardship on the host communities, with buying and selling of auto parts is not only strange. It, annoyingly, betrays a terrible mindset.”
Governor Akeredolu challenged Malami “to approach the court to challenge the legality of the Laws of the respective States banning open grazing and the decision of the Southern Governors Forum taken in the interest of their people.”
He stated that the ban on open grazing is irreversible and would be enforced with vigour. According to Akeredolu: “We shall be most willing to meet him in Court. The decision to ban open grazing stays. It will be enforced with vigour.”
Malami, on Channels Television on Wednesday, declared that the decision of the southern governors banning open grazing “does not align with the provisions of the Constitution, hence, it does not hold water.”
Meanwhile, northern governors also support facing out open grazing in the country.