JUST IN: Open Grazing Ban: Sanwo-Olu Receives 16 Southern Governors In Lagos
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, has begun receiving 16 of his colleagues from Southern Nigeria.
The governor came in Alausa, Ikeja, for a meeting on the state of the country.
The summit will take place eight weeks after the governors convened on May 11, 2021 in Asaba, Delta State’s capital. At the meeting, the governors will discuss the open grazing ban, restructuring, fiscal federalism, and the request for state police that were made in Asaba.
Some of the early birds at the meeting include Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun), and Godwin Obaseki (Edo) represented by his deputy, Philip Shaibu.
Others expected at the meeting are Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Diri Duoye (Bayelsa), Willie Obiano (Anambra), Ben Ayade (Cross Rivers), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), David Umahi (Ebonyi), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), and Oluwaseyi Makinde (Oyo).
Recall that the governors in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting in Asaba, banned open grazing as part of moves to address killings and kidnapping by herdsmen.
But a few days after the meeting, the Presidency faulted the ban on open grazing. The Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, had, in a statement, said, “It is equally true that their (governors’) announcement is of questionable legality, given the constitutional right of all Nigerians to enjoy the same rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 states (and FCT), regardless of the state of their birth or residence.”
Also, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, slammed the southern governors for banning open grazing.
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.
The President, during a recorded television interview in June, also backed Malami’s position, adding that he had directed that grazing routes be recovered
