Grazing Routes: Buhari turning Nigeria into a cow republic, prioritizing welfare of cows over human lives – Ortom 

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state, weekend, said the insistence of the federal government to carve out grazing routes and reserves for herdsmen across 25 states despite resistance by Nigerians is a final onslaught on the people and an invitation to crisis and anarchy.

He observed that it was obvious that the presidency seemed not bothered by the worsening insecurity in the country leading to killings by bandits, armed herders and terrorists but preferred to deploy government arsenal to forcefully impose such a policy on Nigerians who had kicked against it.

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The Governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary Terver Akase in Makurdi said it was shocking and disappointing to read a statement from the Presidency indicating that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved recommendations of a committee to review ‘with dispatch’ 368 grazing sites across 25 states in the country, ‘to determine the levels of encroachment.’

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He said it was clear that the Presidency wanted to plunge the country into avoidable crisis because there was no justification for the President Muhammadu Buhari to insist on establishing reserves and routes for cattle against the widely accepted ranching policy.

The Governor in the statement said “millions of Nigerians have been displaced following attacks by armed herders and are currently suffering in IDP camps. Benue State for instance has over 1.5 million displaced people with thousands living in camps and many more forced to flee their ancestral lands to stay under dehumanizing conditions in open fields.

“The Buhari administration does not seem to be worried about the food crisis already ravaging the country. Farmers have been chased into IDP camps by herders and children are dying of starvation in addition to being denied education, yet what is more important to the President is the well being of cows.