The Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Michael Gusa, yesterday said that the new anti-open grazing law did not violate the country’s constitution.
Gusa made the clarification on Tuesday in an interview with newsmen in Makurdi, the state capital.
He said those who are opposed to the law were the Fulani herdsmen and others not resident in the state.
According to him, such people were either ignorant of the provisions of the law or deliberately out to ferment trouble.
The AG said contrary to insinuations, the law prohibiting open grazing does not in any way violate the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
He also explained that the law only restricts the movement of livestock and not human beings, stressing that the herdsmen in Benue are comfortable with it.
“The law prohibiting the open grazing of livestock is not targeted at any tribe. Many of the herdsmen who want to remain in the state had complied with the law.
“Since the implementation of the law, no Fulani man living in the state has complained, except those in Abuja and other states. When Zamfara State enacted the Sharia law, those who could not live in conformity with it, left the state,” Gusa said.
He pointed out that the herdsmen must live in peace with the farmers or seek alternative abodes, if they cannot restrain their cows from destroying crops.
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