By Joseph Edegbo :
The Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ondo State, South West NIgeria, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has lashed out at the Governor of Kaduna State, Northwest, Nasir El-Rufai over his stance against the Anti-open Grazing Law within the southern region.
While describing El-Rufai’s attack on the Southern governors as an attempt to encourage anarchy, Akeredolu stated that the Kaduna State governor’s opinion was lace with “mischief”.
El-Rufai had on Tuesday expressed reservation on the Southern governors’ Anti-open Grazing Law in the region, emphasizing that the law was unrealistic, as he stressed that ranching would have been the best option.
According to Akeredolu, who is also the Chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum, in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, anyone making such comments made by the Kaduna State Governor should be classed as “unenviable ilk masquerading as leaders.”
While emphasizing that the Anti-open Grazing Law has come to stay in the state, Akeredolu maintained that those without evil agendas have nothing to fear as regards the law.
The statement read in part: “From all indications, Governor Nasir el-Rufai, if he was properly quoted and his views not misrepresented, is struggling hard to export banditry to the South under an expressed opinion that is laced with mischief.
“In these days and times, anyone who makes statements such as that allegedly made by the governor belongs to a class of an unenviable ilk masquerading as leaders.
“There is no wisdom in condemning/banning open grazing, prohibiting inter border movement of cattle in the North, including Kaduna, with an accompanying disapproval of a Law that gives bite to same, in another part of the country.
“Perhaps, it is apt to state clearly that the likes of Governor el-Rufai are already in a hysteric ‘mode’ of escalating and indeed, externalising banditry, especially as the military onslaught against criminal elements and other terror variants suffices in the North.
“For emphasis, any such comment like that of the Kaduna governor, if indeed he made that statement, merely seeks to encourage anarchy under the guise ‘of resentment of a Law by affected stakeholders