Gentlemen of the press, the Asaba declaration that banned the open grazing of cattle is totally unacceptable and will not be abide by the myopic unpatriotic declarations.
Nigeria is a Sovereign Territory Governed by a define enacted constitution which states that every citizen has the right to live and go about his legal business in any part of the country.
Cattle rearing is one of such legal business that is traced back to thousands of years with many benefits to Nigerian Economy and Africa at large.
The business is enjoyed not only by the cattle rearers but the whole of humanity. Some of these benefits include source of income to individuals and the nation at large, creation of jobs, boosting of agricultural sector as well as a source of nutrition.
Banning open grazing is automatically putting a stop to all these benefits and termination of many People’s source of livelihoods.
Thus, we are highly disappointed and frown at the Southern Gorvernor’s decision to ban open grazing. It is unfortunate and sad for such utterances to be coming from elder statesmen and the Chief securities of various states.
We call on; 1) Federal Government to swing to a contineous action, act and protect the lives and properties of the genuine cattle rearers going about their legal business moving from one community to another in search of suitable feed for their livestocks in Southern part of the country.
2) Northern Gorvernor’s Forum, Northern Elites, Traditional rulers, Youth organizations to checkmate the activities of Southerners residing in Northern Nigeria.
Many of them involved in so many illegal societal ills business such as: i) Purchase and sell of addictive drugs ii) Cyber Crimes iii) Proliferation of small arms iv) Rituals v) Prostitution vi) Adulteration and misbranding of certain goods.
vii) Highway robbery and Kidnapping viii) Motor park thugs etc Above are some of the illegal activities brought to our peaceful region by the Southerners.
These activities mentioned in 2 above happen to be the propelling force of insecurity in Northern Nigeria today that has resulted in the backwardness of Northern Nigeria, lost of properties worth billion of dollars, lost of precious and promising lives.
If the southern Gorvernor’s will continue with the Asaba declarations, then we will be compelled to redefine the activities of Southerners residing in the North.
Mohammed Salihu Danlami, Speaker Arewa Youth Assembly
