Fulani Herdsmen
The Permanent Secretary, Taraba State Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Bello Yero, has urged to support the Grazing Bill currently before the state House of Assembly, saying the Bill is in their favour.
The said Bill, recently compelled the state branch of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria to embarked on a peaceful demonstration, if well studied, Yero insisted, accords the herders more prominence in the state.
“I have read the Bill sent to the Assembly by Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku over and over again and I can authoritatively say that, this entire Bill is in favour of the grazers,” he stated.
Yero, a Fulani, speaking to journalists in Jalingo, the state capital, yesterday, pleaded with his kinsmen to embrace the Bill, saying if it scales through, the Bill would end skirmishes between herders and farmers in the state and that herders would carry out their grazing activities peacefully.
Throwing his weight behind the Bill, Yero said: “If anyone wants to trample on my human fundamental rights, I won’t allow that, but in this case, it is not so.“Some sections of the Bill provides for Special Marshal responsible for guarding and securing the livestock.
“With this, it is a final full stop to thieves, who come to do away with our cattle. It also talks about ensuring proper vaccination for the livestock, which is a huge plus for the grazers, because this will keep the animals strong and healthier.
“I have read this Bill and I say it again, it is to the favour of the grazers and even the Fulani youths too when they recruited the Special Marshalls, because they know all the footpaths of the cattle.”
The governor, he stressed, was only trying to make the state a peaceful and habitable place for all Tarabans, adding: “I can assure you that from what I read in this Bill, I did not see any place where he told anyone to stop rearing cattle or reduce the number of cattle to a particular figure.”
Yero noted that the Bill would unite farmers and herders in the state and urged the Assembly to initiate a law that would control the influx of people into the state, who disguise to give the Fulani in Taraba a bad name and later leave them with trouble.
He called on herders to avoid being used as tools to thwart the peace in the state, noting: “I saw in the submission (Bill) clearly that movement with livestock will be on permit, and there is nothing bad about that, as it will rather guarantee the owners of these livestock their safety.”
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