Benue leaders attack Defence Minister over anti-open grazing law

The pan-socio-cultural group in Benue State comprising Mdgzou U Tiv, Idoma National Forum and Omi’Ngede has described the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, as an ethnic jingoist whose statement may cause anarchy in the country if not checked.

The group was reacting to Wednesday’s statement by the minister which called for the suspension of anti-open grazing laws and recommended grazing routes.

The group, through its spokesman, Chief Edward Ujege, therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restrain his aides from making inflammatory public statements.

It expressed regrets that the defence minister might have made the statement due to his ignorance of the constitution and implored him to be abreast of the constitution he swore to uphold.

It said the minister’s insistence on the enforcement of cattle routes must be borne out of his imagination that the nation was still under military rule.

“It seems to us that Mansur Dan-Ali imagines that the current democratic dispensation is a military rule where decisions are taken unilaterally.

“We are tempted to also say that Mansur Dan-Ali does not understand and or is not familiar with the letters and spirits of the Nigerian Constitution he swore to uphold,” the group said.

Noting that the utterances of the minister had emboldened “the killer-herdsmen to continue their heinous crime,” the group said “less than 24 hours after he came public again, herdsmen saw reason to continue with their dastardly acts, killing no fewer than 10 persons in Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue State”.

The group, however, said the minister was only chasing shadow as no agent of the government, not even the president, had the constitutional power to abrogate any law made by the National Assembly or state assemblies.

“There is no going back on the anti-open grazing law, whether a Mansur Dan-Ali likes it or not,” it said.