Buhari Backs Open Grazing, Asks AGF To Recover Land For Herdsmen

Buhari Backs Open Grazing, Asks AGF To Recover Land For Herdsmen
Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared support for the ban of open grazing across the country.

To this end, President Buhari stated that he had asked the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to begin the process of recovering land from persons who have converted cattle grazing routes for their personal use.

Buhari stated this during an interview with Arise Television which was aired on Thursday.

The President stated that the grazing routes were designated in the 1st Republic when “Nigerians use to obey laws” but those routes had been converted.

Buhari was reacting to a question on the decision by 17 southern governors to ban open grazing.

Recall that the AGF had kicked against the resolution of the southern governors.

When queried on Thursday on the Malami’s stand, President Buhari laughingly responded, “You want me to contradict my attorney-general?”

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Explaining further, he said, “What I did was ask him to go and dig the gazette of the 1st Republic when people were obeying laws. There were cattle routes and grazing areas. Cattle routes were for when they (herdsmen) are moving up country, north to south or east to west, they had to go through there.

“If you allow your cattle to stray into any farm, you are arrested. The farmer is invited to submit his claims. The khadi or the judge will say pay this amount and if you can’t the cattle is sold. And if there is any benefit, you are given and people were behaving themselves and in the grazing areas, they built dams, put windmills in some places there were even veterinary departments so that the herders are limited. Their route is known, their grazing area is known.

“But I am telling you, this rushing to the centre (sic) so I asked for the gazette to make sure that those who encroached on these cattle routes and grazing areas will be dispossessed in law and try to bring some order back into the cattle grazing.”