Ondo, Ogun, Abia and Oyo state governments respectively, have vowed to continue their move to enact anti-open grazing laws despite apparent opposition to it by the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (retd.).

The state governments said Dan-Ali’s comments would not stop them from going ahead with their plans to pass a bill that is meant to stop clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers and the killings connected with these activities.

The minister had berated the enactment of anti-open grazing laws by some states after a Security Council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, calling for the suspension of the laws.

He had said the suspension of the laws would reduce tension associated with nomadic activities in the country.

The anti-open grazing law is currently operational in Benue, Ekiti and Taraba states, while Ondo, Ogun, Oyo and Abia states have been working on having similar laws.

However, the Ondo State government has said that it will not stop efforts to promulgate the anti-grazing law, saying it is meant to put an end to the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the state.

The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi, said the comments made by Dan-Ali had no effect on the position of the state government on the matter.

The commissioner also explained that the process of enacting the law through the Ondo State House of Assembly was ongoing.

Similarly, the Chairman, Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Mr. Oludare Kadiri, said the bill on animal rearing and grazing was still before the House despite Dan-Ali’s comments.

Kadiri said the bill had passed the second reading and that it would have gone to committee stage if not that the House was currently on recess.

He added that the House would reconvene later this month, when the committee, which he said had earlier been dissolved, would be reconstituted.

He, however, said as soon as the committee was reconstituted, the bill would move to the next stage.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Oyewole Oyewunmi, also told one of our correspondents that the push for an anti-open grazing law in the state was still ongoing.

Oyewunmi said the anti-open grazing bill would have been passed if not for the death of the former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Michael Adeyemo.

He said, “We have submitted the bill already at the state House of Assembly and deliberation on it had started. But the Speaker, Adeyemo, died, so activities on the floor of the House have not been vibrant. I am sure that when normalcy returns to the house, deliberation will continue on it.”

Asked if it would be withdrawn as a result of what the Defence Minister said, Oyewunmi said that the bill was an executive one and that it would not be withdrawn.

“It is an executive bill and we are not planning to suspend deliberation on it or withdraw it. We are going ahead,” he added.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Emmanuel Uzor, said the state had not commenced the process of enacting anti-open grazing law to curb open rearing of cattle, adding that security situation in the country would determine the position of the state government on the matter.

The Senate, the House of Representatives, Taraba, Ekiti and Benue state governments had earlier berated Dan-Ali for his comments.