A Human Rights Lawyer, Maxwell Opara has alleged that he expected the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike to have taken decisive action to halt open grazing in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when he came into office.
He speculated that this failure might be due to a lack of political will. He emphasized the need for strong political leadership to address the issue of Open Grazing in Nigeria. He noted that previous efforts were successful only because the herders had powerful backing. He argued that this support extended to high levels of government and security forces. He accused the previous administration of using military and security agencies to protect herders from any consequences.
He said in an interview video with AIT From 41:37, ”When these herders are moving, the farmers will run. Most of the time, you will see the bad ones among the herders, they will use their cutlass to uproot crops and give them to their cows. they even move them into the city centers like in Abuja, you see them on the beautiful roads.
I’m even disappointed in Wike, I thought he would have stopped open grazing in the FCT. I don’t know whether it is the lack of political will. These people were able to achieve this thing at that time because they had their father who was ready to back them. If you confront them, he will ask the military to go and clear those people. If you get them arrested, he will ask the DSS to release them.”….Sée Móre
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