Grazing Reserve: Benue people ready to die than support cattle agenda –Gov Ortom NEWS

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Grazing Reserve: Benue people ready to die than support cattle agenda –Gov Ortom

By AdvocateNews on 21/08/2021

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and President Muhammadu Buhari

...says Buhari regime has turned Nigeria to "cow republic"

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Friday, kicked against the order by President Muhammadu Buhari to review with dispatch 368 grazing sites in 25 states across the country, saying the regime had turned the country into a “cow republic.”

In his official reaction to the new presidential order on the controversial grazing reserve, Ortom said with the latest move, it was crystal clear that President Buhari was planning to plunge the country into a crisis.

The governor, who likened the Buhari regime’s approach to security to the Taliban agenda in Afghanistan, said that the regime had placed more priority on the welfare of cattle than on the citizens.

Ortom, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, said, “In a country where insecurity has reached an all-time high with hundreds being killed by armed herdsmen, bandits and other terrorists, the Presidency is only bothered about animals and their safety and is deploying all machinery and arsenals of government to impose grazing reserves and cattle routes on Nigerians. This is unacceptable!”

The governor added, “It is now clear that the Presidency wants to plunge the country into an avoidable crisis. Otherwise, what is the justification for President Buhari’s insistence that grazing reserves be established across the country when Nigerians have openly kicked against the policy and have embraced ranching in place of open grazing?”

Ortom stated that the President was only flogging a dead horse on the issue of grazing reserves, saying the people of Benue State were ready to lay down their lives to reject the programme.

He said, “What is the difference between the Buhari administration’s approach to insecurity and the Taliban agenda in Afghanistan? It is now evident that the government at the centre prioritises the welfare of cattle over human beings and is bent on taking Nigeria back to the pre-colonial era with some snippets of society.

“If President Buhari must actualise his cattle agenda in Benue State, he should be ready to kill all of us! We know that grazing reserves and cattle routes are the only projects that the President has for Nigeria, but Benue State is not interested in such a project.

“It is hypocritical for the Presidency to support and fund ranching in Katsina State and turn round to impose grazing reserves on other states,” Ortom added.

Posted 21/08/2021 04:19:33 AM

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