The Chairman of South-West Governors Forum and the governor of Ondo State, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, on Tuesday said the anti-open grazing law was not targeted at any group but to protect the lives of the people of the region at all cost.
Akeredolu who stated this while receiving the Pastorate of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, led by the State Overseer, Pastor Jacob Asubiojo, in his office in Alagbaka, Akure, also said the State Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun was not put in place to attack or take action against anyone.
He said though some people are not pleased and are against the law, he maintained that the law was put in place to protect lives and ensure that farmers are saved from losing their farm crops as a result of the outdated open grazing practice.
Akeredolu who expressed his administration’s resolve to protect the lives of the people of the state at any cost and vowed to stand by the law, saying the need to protect the people and ensure mutual understanding informed the development.
The governor disclosed that the leadership and members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in the state have shown readiness to key into the new development and cooperate with his administration on the open grazing ban.
According to him, the state government has established synergy with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to train herders on feedlot and new technologies of cattle rearing.
He said: “I want to urge you to intensify your prayers for us. We need it. You have referred to our efforts in trying to secure this our homeland. We have made efforts, we established Amotekun and banned open grazings.
“It is not what is pleasing to everybody. Some people are not pleased with us. We are ready to stand by it and face whatever it will cost us. Pray for us.
“Amotekun and the anti-open grazing law are not pleasing to some people and they are gathering together, planning evil. Pray for us. Their evil will not work.
“What we are saying is that your herds cannot keep destroying our crops. The FAO has come and we have discussed it. The Meyetti-Allah here in Ondo appears to want to cooperate with us because they know that when their cows destroy crops, we seize their cows and they pay the farmers before they are released.
“The FAO will train them on how to do feedlot. They will be trained to make feed and take it to the cows. We are not discriminating against anybody.
“We just want to make it clear that you can’t make your own ends meet and destroy other people’s source of livelihood. We know your prayers are very important to us. We need it.”
Earlier, the State Overseer of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor Asubiojo, commended the governor over his efforts to keep the state as one of the leading states in the country.
Asubiojo said: “I want to specially commend the effort of the governor in the area of security. As far as I’m concerned, in this our South-West, I can say Ondo State is number one. You are doing a lot. I also want to commend the Governor on the development stride in the state. This is highly commendable.”
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