Members of
the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria yesterday
stormed the Taraba State House of Assembly in protest against a pending anti-grazing bill.
stormed the Taraba State House of Assembly in protest against a pending anti-grazing bill.
The peaceful
protest started from the Ministry of Works to the assembly complex, where the
Speaker, Peter Abel Diah received them.
The speaker
urged them to attend the public hearing that would be conducted in the state’s
geo-political zone, adding that the bill was not targeted against any group as
claimed by the association.
Led by its
state chairman, Sahabi Mammud, the association “rejected the bill in its
entirety because it was ill-intended, discriminatory and a misplaced priority.”
Citing
various sections of the 1999 constitution (as amended), they complained that
the bill would “restrict the movement of certain group of people who are
constitutionally guaranteed of freedom of movement.”
They also
cited section 43 of the same Constitution, which guaranteed every Nigerian the
right to acquire and own land. Faulting the governor for initiating the bill,
they urged the assembly to “stop the bill in the collective interest of the
state.”
According to
Mammud: “The penalties proposed in the bill are so punitive that they appeared
to target the grazers for humiliation and displacement.” Meanwhile, the Idoma
Forum in Jos has faulted the claim by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore that they have
freedom of movement to any part of the country.
According to Guardian, The
association had said in a recent statement that the protocol of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) empowered them to move across member
countries.
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