TAIWO FAROTIMI
A statement by Mansur Dan Ali, minister of defence on Tuesday may have unwittingly started another furore on the anti-grazing laws enacted in some states as a response to the killings and disruption of economic life by the herdsmen. Ali had in the statement said that he told the Council of States at its recent meeting that the Federal government should suspend these laws. He also suggested that the government should open up the grazing route for the herdsmen.
The minister perhaps did not appreciate the fact that each state is entitled to take steps to forestall breakdown of law and order in its territory and that the Federal Government does not have overriding power over the states. So what he said raises a constitutional issue.
Aside from that, such a suggestion challenges the relevance of the state and its leadership within the federation.
It was therefore not a surprise that Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti State and one of the governors who have signed the law promptly aired his view on the issue. Fayose said on his tweeter handle that he would resist any attempt to tamper with the law. He said the FG should “take herdsmen out of the bush and give them decent life by embracing cattle ranching”.
Although the minister claimed that a suspension of the law across the country will ease tension, he failed to realize that it may actually increase tension by being exploited by the militant herdsmen to challenge the States concerned and thus starting fresh killings. Now in the immediate circumstance, Fayose may use it as a campaign issue, apparently to warn voters in the state stating that the All Progressives Congress, APC , through Kayode Fayemi, its candidate to repeal the law and give killer herdsmen liberty to run over farms and settlements. Fayose may have enough reason to resist, after the law was passed by the House of Assembly, some northern leaders and representatives of Miyetti Allah, the group that speaks for the herdsmen visited to endorse the law in Ekiti.
