By Olayinka Latona
ChristianAssociation of Nigeria, CAN, South East Zone has called on the National Assembly to reject any bill intended to allow the creation of grazing fields for herdsmen in all parts of the country, saying, “Federal Government should not create more problems with the idea of grazing fields. ”
Herdsmen
The Christian body in a statement signed by the chairman of CAN in the South-East, Most Rev. David Eberechukwu and National Chairman, Christian Enlightenment and Welfare Organisation, CEWO, Apostle Joseph Ajujungwa maintained that such a bill at the National Assembly will only create problems in the areas where there is peace presently.
Instead of grazing fields, CAN recommended modern ranches, stressing “We reject the bill on the allotment of grazing field in the 36 states of the nation and ask for the building of ranches for the cows and sheep. These ranches will provide schools, hospitals and employment for the teaming youths of the society.
“This is what is obtainable in developed countries. The ranches will modernize the work of the herdsmen and Nigeria will be better.”
Describing the bill as importation of terrorists in to the nation, CAN said: “The Church in the South East, South South, North Central and North East call on the National Assembly as a matter of urgency to throw away such a bill. We ask the Federal government to come to the aid of the terrorized communities, which Fulani herdsmen have created more harms than Boko Haram.”
The group also called on the governors of the affected states to protect the com-munities under such threat of Fulani herdsmen and also the need for the traditional rulers in such areas to embrace community policing and stop collecting royalty from the Fulani herdsmen.
According to the statement, the attacks of the Fulani herdsmen on the innocent citizens of this country have become a nightmare on their host communities, appealing to the security agents in the country to end “the incessant rapes and murder of the peace-loving Nigerians in different parts of the country.”
“The question on every-body’s lips is where do these Fulani herdsmen get the AK-47 guns and other sophisti-cated weapons they carry and does it mean that both Police and the Nigerian Army are not seeing these people?”, the statement asked.
“We reject the bill on the allotment of grazing field in the 36 states of the nation, and ask, instead, for the building of ranches for cows and the sheep,” it concluded.
Eze Afrika
