Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has knocked his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai for criticising the approach adopted by his southern colleagues in handling the open grazing crisis.
It would be recalled that, El-Rufai, while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday after a visit to the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, insisted that the anti-open grazing law being passed by some southern states is not implementable, while stressing that ranching and not open grazing is the solution to the ongoing farmer/herder clashes.
Akeredolu, reacting to the criticism said, “Governor Nasir El-Rufai, if he was properly quoted and his views not misrepresented, is struggling hard to export banditry to the South under an expressed opinion that is laced with mischief.
Akeredolu’s position was contained in a press release signed by his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo.
The statement reads: “In these days and times, anyone who makes statements such as that allegedly made by the Governor belongs to a class of an unenviable ilk masquerading as leaders.”
The SGF Chairman said, “There is no wisdom in condemning/banning open grazing, prohibiting inter border movement of cattle in the North, including Kaduna, with an accompanying disapproval of a Law that gives bite to same, in another part of the country.
“Perhaps, it is apt to state clearly that the likes of Governor el-Rufai are already in a hysteric ‘mode’ of escalating and indeed, externalising banditry, especially as the military onslaught against criminal elements and other terror variants suffices in the North.”
He noted that, “such comment like that of the Kaduna Governor, if indeed he made that statement, merely seeks to encourage anarchy under the guise of resentment of a Law by affected stakeholders.
“In order words, it is a cleverly crafted path towards replicating in the South, the most despicable situation in the North that Nigerians of goodwill daily pray to overcome. It’s a ploy beyond the ordinary.
Akeredolu added that, “The Anti-Grazing Law, especially in Ondo State, has come to stay. It shall be zealously guarded and conscionably deployed to protect all residents of Ondo State, notwithstanding their ethnic and religious biases. Those who have nothing evil to perpetrate have nothing to fear as regards the Law.”
