Order Police Chief To Implement Anti-Grazing Law - Reps Tell Buhari

The House of Representatives on Thursday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order security outfits in the country to enforce the Open Grazing (Prohibition) Law in Benue State. Benue has been a hotbed of killings since the signing of the law but the lawmakers who condemned the development, said the state has the power to make such laws.

According to the Speaker Yakubu Dogara, there were no alternatives to enforcing a law rightly passed by a state assembly. Dogara thus called on the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris, and heads of other security agencies to implement the anti-open grazing law. An All Progressives Congress member from Benue State, Mr. Hassan Saleh, had drawn the attention of the House to the latest killings, blaming the actions of the herdsmen on the “refusal of the police and other security services” to enforce the law.

While leading the debate, Hassan Saleh, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency, alleged that the police and other security services turned their backs on the people. “The government has not restricted the herdsmen. These same herdsmen and their cultural organisation, Miyetti Cattle Breeders, have vowed to continue the killings until the anti-open grazing law is reversed,” Saleh noted. “The IG and other security services must arrest these killers and prosecute them. We are playing with the future of this country.”