Lagos lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, on Sunday added his voice against the menace of Fulani Cattle Rearers across the country.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari “to address the bloody clashes which occur regularly between farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the various parts of the country.
He said, “Through the negligence of the State the country has continued to witness the reckless killing of innocent farmers and the destruction of farmlands. Farmers, like other citizens, are entitled to the protection of the right to life and property.”
According to Falana, “The primitive movement of thousands of heads of cattle from the north to the south should be stopped without any further delay.
“In the interim, States which have large livestock populations should take advantage of the Land Use Act to acquire land for the establishment of grazing reserves.
“In view of the increasing incident of cattle rustling, security measure should be put in place to police the grazing reserves. The said grazing reserves will be phased out gradually and replaced with ranches and abattoirs.
“However, since the federal government is obligated to protect the life and property of every citizen urgent steps should taken to avert further killings and destruction of farmlands by herdsmen.
“If the Buhari Administration does not discharge its constitutional duty by stopping the unwarranted civil disturbances we shall not hesitate to pray the federal high court to compel it to act responsibly in the circumstance by ensuring the protection of the fundamental rights of every farmer to life and property.
“At the same time, we shall equally ask the Court to compel the federal government and state government with large livestock populations to establish grazing reserves and ranches,” he added.
The federal government has kept a sealed lips in the face of wanton destruction of lives and farm lands across the country by Fulani Herdsmen.At least somebody is willing to confront the devil headlong.
