By Samuel Oyadongha
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, says the full weight of the law would be applied to those who violate the state’s Anti-Grazing Law to ensure the continued protection of citizens’ lives and property.
Represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the governor stated this on Wednesday in Yenagoa during an interactive meeting with local government chairmen, traditional rulers and other community leaders from six local government areas currently experiencing herders’s invasion.
He stressed that the state Anti-Grazing Law was enacted to forestall violent clashes between herders and owners of farmlands, which had resulted in wanton destruction of lives and property in some parts of the country.
Diri, who condemned the recent incidents reportedly perpetrated by herdsmen in some communities in the state, said about 2 weeks ago, a woman from Amarata community in Yenagoa, the state capital, was raped by the cattle rearers on her farm, while another was hacked to death in Ogbia.
The governor reiterated his call on traditional rulers and local government council chairmen to take charge of their domains and enforce the Anti-Grazing Law to ensure peace and stability across the state’s communities.
He equally called on youths, particularly youth presidents, community development committees (CDC), and women leaders, to be vigilant of any security breach in their communities and report to the appropriate authorities for necessary action.
Diri also directed all the local government council chairmen to activate the Anti-Grazing Law by forming enforcement committees and submitting the list of committee members within the next three days to the office of the Secretary to the State Government.
He said, “By Friday, all local government council chairmen must submit their anti-grazing committee members to the office of the SSG. We are in a semi-emergency situation, and we need to deal with it as an emergency.
“Going forward, paramount rulers of communities that superintend their areas as second or third class rulers must monitor and promptly report to government. If you don’t report to us and we come there to find out you will be our guest through the police. So the responsibility of keeping your domain safe is now laid on your shoulders.”
“Youth presidents should not concern themselves with only issues of development levy. I am a little bit embarrassed that the same Epie-Atissa youths who are always going around and collecting money from anybody who wants to develop their land cannot go to the forest and challenge these herdsmen. That is cowardice, timidity and primitive.
“This meeting is to remind everyone that an anti-grazing law exists in this state. And the Governor, despite his lenient, simple and peace-loving disposition, will not allow this Ijaw land to be invaded by any herdsmen.
“No inch of Ijaw land has ever been conquered. If our fathers handed over an unconquered land to us, then we have a duty to protect that unconquered territory and also hand it over to our children unconquered,” he declared.
In his remarks, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Nimibofa Ayawei, emphasised the need for effective collaboration between communities, clans and the state government to check the menace, stressing that open grazing is not allowed in the state.
In their contributions, the Chairman of the State Traditional Rulers Council, His Royal Majesty King Bubaraye Dakolo and the Paramount Ruler of the Igbogene Community, Prof. Augustine Ekein, urged the government to be more preventive by effectively policing the entry points of the herdsmen and their animals.
While acknowledging the role of community leaders in implementing the Anti-grazing law, they submitted that not much will be achieved by mere reporting of the presence of herdsmen in the communities if drastic measures are not taken against violators of the law.
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