Afenifere knocks Northern leaders’ opposition to open grazing ban

The Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, has expressed support for the total ban placed on open grazing by Southern governors, saying it must be implemented latest by September 1.

The group also blasted some Northern leaders for disapproving the ban on open grazing.

“Afenifere is in full support of the governors to have laws banning open grazing latest by September 1, this year. We noticed that some states already have this law enacted.

“We urge the remaining states to enact the law expeditiously. Beyond the enactment, however, we call for immediate enforcement of the law so as to put an end to various vices that the act of open grazing is engendering,” the group said in a communique issued at the end of its Executive Council meeting in Lagos.

Daily Trust reports that some Northern leaders had kicked against the Southern leaders’ decision, which they said would not resolve the age-long farmers-herders clash.

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State was one of the Northern leaders who believe the open grazing ban would not work.

But Afenifere queried the rationale for the Northern leaders’ disapproval of the open grazing ban.

In the communique signed by its Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, after the meeting held at the residence of its leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere noted that open grazing was one of the major causes of desertification.

Afenifere insisted that the seemingly intractable security challenges in the country are due largely to the restraint put in the way of state governors.