Benue PDP challenges Gov. Alia on enforcement of anti-open grazing law

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

The Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Benue State has said that it finds it inexplicable that Governor Hyacinth Alia has tacitly suspended the enforcement of the ban on open grazing in the state which is still operative as a law.
The party noted in a press statement signed by its Publicity Secretary Chief Bemgba Iortyom entitled KILLINGS BY SUSPECTED HERDSMEN IN BENUE AVOIDABLE THROUGH ENFORCEMENT OF OPEN GRAZING BAN issued on Monday said that, the relaxation of the law has directly resulted in the heavy influx of herdsmen and their cattle into both rural and urban areas of the state.
The PDP also condemned in strong terms, the attack on Antsa settlement which is within the vicinity of the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka Federal University of Agriculture and the Alfred Akawe Torkula Polytechnic both in Makurdi, where students are currently in session by armed bandit herders on Monday during which several persons were brutally injured.
“The Peoples Democratic Party,PDP in the state condemns the incident as deeply saddening and regrettable, one which the party believes would not have occurred if the law banning open grazing in the state was still being enforced by Governor Hyacinth Alia.
“The party is equally alarmed that, rather than work towards strengthening enforcement of the law, there had only last week emerged evidence that the governor had submitted a Bill before the Benue State House of Assembly seeking to have the law repealed.
“And, once again, the query is, why does Governor Alia want the Prohibition of Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law (2017) repealed? Whose interests will it serve to have the law repealed – the herdsmen or Benue people?
“What antidote does Governor Alia have against herdsmen atrocities in Benue, considering that the marauding criminals are increasingly encroaching on the entire landmass of the state with no resistance being put in their way?
“The governor’s policy of silence over the atrocities of the pastoralists is another source of deep worry, as it serves to cover the crimes they commit against humanity while at the same time emboldening them as they see no wrong in their heinous crimes.
“It is alarming that suspected bandit herdsmen can now strike and kill at will in Makurdi, the state capital city, a situation which loudly amplifies the grim fact that nowhere now in Benue State is safe under the watch of Governor Hyacinth Alia.
“PDP calls on Governor Alia to come alive to the reality that Benue is under a siege which is closing in by the day, and he should take advantage of the disposition of the federal government towards stamping out insecurity and flush the killer herdsmen out of the state”, the statement said.