Human rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, says the
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,
SAN, is wrong to compare open grazing ban in Southern Nigeria with the
prohibition of spare parts trading in the Northern part of the country.
According to Ozekhome, spare parts traders are civil, organised
and responsible members of the public who pay taxes but herders do not remit
any amount to the government.
The lawyer made this known in this in a statement titled,
‘Freedom Of Movement Is For Human Beings, Not Cattle And Sheep’, adding that
open grazing ban by Southern governors was constitutional.
Recall that the minister lambasted
the Southern governors over their recent ban of open grazing in the region.
About 17 southern governors had met last week in Asaba, the Delta State
capital, and resolved to ban open grazing and movement of cattle by foot in the
region as some kidnappings and killings in the southern region have been traced
to criminal elements amongst herders.
But according to the AGF, open grazing ban is the same thing
as Northern governors banning spare parts trading in their own region
considering the fact that Southerners comprise a majority of spare parts
traders in the North.
Reacting, Ozekhome said, “The Northern elites, including the
Hon Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, miss the point
sorely when they compare Igbo peaceful spare-parts dealers who go about their
normal spare parts business legitimately, (building or renting their shops),
with savage, maniacal AK-47-wielding herdsmen.
“Igbo traders do not kill or attack Northerners with their
stock of motor-tyres, rims, spanners or chasis. They do not pour petrol from
fuel tanks that they sell, on Fulani herdsmen. They do not use car bumpers or
wind shields to smash the heads of herdsmen.”
“How does open and street grazing of cows by fully armed
foot-patrolling youth which is now clearly anachronistic, , primitive and
antiquated, be likened to legitimate spare parts business being carried out in
shops or designated areas, with the Igbo traders paying tenement rate, taxes,
water electricity and light bills? Have you ever heard of any herder paying
tax?
“How do you equate spare parts dealers with mindless
violence unleashed on poor helpless and hapless farmers in their own farms, and
destruction of their crops with reckless abandon by these rampaging nomadic
pastoralists who are on a mission of conquest and expansionism?” he queried.
Continuing, Ozekhome said, “Freedom of movement is only for
human beings. It is not for cattle, sheep and goats. Will the Northerners
tolerate the open sale of alcoholic beverages in their states, even though it
is the constitutional right of other ethnic groups to move about and sell
beverages of their choice.
“Are these Northern elites seriously arguing that Southern
State Governors cannot ban open grazing in their states, to protect their
innocent citizens from deadly killer herdsmen?”
The senior advocate urged the 17 Southern Governors to
“immediately sue the Federal Government, invoking the original jurisdiction of
the Supreme Court under section 232 of the 1999 Constitution”, adding that
“they should ask for a determination of their right to preserve their States
from insecurity”.
He also encouraged the State Assemblies in the region to
quickly back open grazing ban through instrument of law.
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