Following attempts to force the hand of the state government on the recently signed anti-open grazing law, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu has again restated his resolve not to be browbeaten into rescinding the law for any reason.
In a strongly worded statement, Akeredolu said the state was not ready to cede any part of its land to any group of criminals such as Miyetti Allah Kataul Hore, all in a bid to achieve the so-called peace and progress in the state.
While speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy Doyin Odebowale, the governor described the threat by the group to foment trouble in the state following his recent signing of the anti-open grazing law as unacceptable in a lawful society.
“We are not prepared to cede any part of our ancestral heritage to enjoy ‘peace and progress’ offered by associations of bandits, robbers, kidnappers and rapists,” he said.
“No part of our land will be given to foreigners who cling to a dubious regional protocol as an instrument validating dispossession.”
Akeredolu, who vowed that the law would be vigorously implemented in the state, lambasted the group’s National Secretary Saleh Hassan for dubiously asking the Federal Government and the National Assembly to stop states from implementing the laws.
He said Hassan admitted without qualms that members of his association had been frustrated to the point of taking to banditry and other forms of criminality to ‘fight poverty.’
He said that Saleh and his sponsors should be content with the resources within their local environment if they were indeed indigenous to Nigeria, stating that they would not be allowed to operate with impunity in Ondo State.
“Ondo State has a law which prohibits open grazing. The Government has a responsibility to implement the law for the benefit of the people of the State and those, who may share in their aspiration for the development of their God-given space.
“The people of Ondo are hospitable. They will, however, be unable to tolerate and condone the invasion of their lands,” he said.
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