* That’s not solution to insecurity, Sen Ndume argues
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has urged southern governors to back their ban on open grazing with a legal instrument, for easy prosecution of offenders.
Falana spoke on Wednesday evening while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.
No fewer than 17 southern governors met on Tuesday in Asaba, Delta State, and resolved to ban open grazing and movement of cattle by foot in the region. The governors also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation and convoke a national dialogue to address widespread agitations amongst various groups in the region.
Several farmers in southern part of the country have been killed, raped, and kidnapped by criminal elements who masquerade as herders. The escalating insecurity in the region has been responsible for food scarcity as farmers abandon their farms as a result of fear of unknown attacks by criminal herders who invade farmlands, brazenly destroy investments worth millions of naira while their cattle feed on crops and scuttle months of farmers’ labour.
Falana, during the television programme, argued that the ban on open grazing, night grazing, underage grazing is important in securing lives and properties in the country, adding that the ban was also in the interest of the herders.
The senior lawyer said: “I have read the resolutions and for me, the governors have done very well. They need to mobilise their northern colleagues, they need to walk their talk because if you expect that the presidency will act on this resolution, the governors may be wasting their precious time.”
“Each of the governors will have to make enabling laws to translate the decision in the communiqué to legal instruments,” he said, adding that governors would have to ensure state attorney generals come together and put in machineries for translating the resolutions into laws.
Falana also lauded the southern governors for demanding the restructuring of the country to enthrone fiscal federalism.
“For the entire country, these resolutions will be very useful; they have come at the right time, not too late, the governors have now formally joined the campaign for restructuring,” he said.
But the Senator representing Borno South and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, expressed reservation over the assessment of the security challenges facing the country by the southern state governors.
Cattle herder in open grazing 
Ndume
Senator Ndume said the ban on open grazing would not solve the scary security challenge across states of the Federation.
Ndume who noted that each geo-political zone has its peculiar security challenge accused the governors of indulging in the blame game.
He said: “As far as I am concerned, this blame game will not solve the problem. Governors are the Chief security officers of their states, so, why are they talking about the President without talking about themselves?
“The governors are deviating from the matter. The problem is not about open grazing. The problem is security. Most of the insecurity problems confronting Nigeria is not in the bush. We have four different types of security challenges. We have the insurgency in the North-East, IPOB through the Eastern Security Network is creating insecurity in the South-East, there is banditry in the North West. It is only in the North Central that we have issues of farmers-herders clashes. There is less problem in the South-West except for the clashes between the herdsmen and the farmers and the agitators for the Yoruba nation. Similarly, in the South-South, they are trying to instigate the avengers but so far the area is peaceful.
“The issue of insecurity is unique to each zone. President Buhari has taken charge of the security personally now. It used to be the Chief of Staff or the Minister of Defence who was having meetings with the service chiefs but today, the President has taken charge of the problem. That is a good development and I hope we would start seeing results but the most important thing is for them to be provided with the necessary equipment to prosecute the war and their allowances should be paid in time.”