Count Us Out, No Land For Cattle Grazing In Benue – Ortom Tells Buhari

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said the north-central state would not give up any of its land for the establishment of any grazing reserves.

Naija News reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday approved the review of 368 grazing routes across 25 states, though these states were not mentioned.

He approved the recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch,” 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment.”

Reacting in a statement on Friday made available to newsmen by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Slade, Ortom pointed out that there is a law in the state that prohibits open grazing.

While insisting that there is no land for grazing reserves in the state, he said President Buhari should be ready to kill people of the state before he can foist his grazing policy on them.

The statement reads in part, “Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly stated that there is no land for grazing reserves or cattle routes in Benue State.

“Though the Federal Government craftily concealed the names of the states where Mr President has ordered that grazing reserves be foisted on the people, we wish to categorically state that no part of Benue will be allocated for grazing reserves or cattle routes!

“The stand of the Governor is not personal; it is the collective decision of Benue people. There is no gazetted land or cattle route in Benue State. Our state should be counted out of the proposed grazing reserves programme.

“If President Buhari must actualize his cattle agenda in Benue State, he should be ready to kill all of us! We know that grazing reserves and cattle routes are the only projects that the President has for Nigeria, but Benue is not interested in such a project”.