The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, (OYC) has said that it is shocked by the opposition against the ban on open grazing by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, who compared spare parts business with herdsmen, saying that the Southern Governors lack powers to basn open grazing.
The Southern Governors had during their meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, banned open grazing of cattle.
Reacting to the ban, Malami while featuring on a programme on Channels Television, stated that the ban was similar to the Northern governors waking up to ban sale of motor spare parts in that part of the country.
Piqued by the Malami’s reaction, the OYC stated that it was now clear that marauding killer herdsmen had all along been drawing their strength from the federal government.
President-General of OYC, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike , in a statement, said it was a show of shame for a senior lawyer of Malami’s standing to draw such weird comparisons between spare parts dealers and killer herdsmen.
“We are in deep shock over the statement made by the Attorney General of the Federation on open television. It is sad that such a posturing could come from the chief law officer of the land.Malami spoke like an ethnic bigot, not the chief law officer of Nigeria.
“To say the least, we are more disappointed because this came from a supposed senior lawyer and SAN who should know better. How on earth did Malami compare herdsmen killing, raping women and forcefully taking over people’s ancestral land to spare parts dealers?
“His ethnic driven stand no doubt shows that the Federal Government has all along been the one giving impetus to killer herdsmen. May we ask him, “The spare parts dealers in the North, are they not paying for their shops? Are they not contributing to the revenue of their host states? Do they enter into Northern States and occupy territories, including their residential apartments by force? Do they go along rape and kill their hosts? Does freedom of movement entail movement of cattle to destroy people’s farms and throw societies into acute hunger?
“May we also ask him: where was freedom of religion when Northern governors banned sale of alcohol and have been destroying people’s wares with reckless abandon? His childish and ethnic induced comparison clearly exposed his hatred for the Igbo who are known to be the major spare parts dealers in the North. This should not be taken for granted. We have lost total confidence in him as the AGF.
“Indeed Nigerians and the international community now know those who have been supporting the activities of killer herdsmen and we are alerting the international community to mount close surveillance on him, he should be put on watch list; this must not be taken for granted.
“The Southern governors should not to waiver in their stand; they have the full backing of the people. They should not be intimidated but go ahead to fully implement that ban. We have had enough suppression in the hands of bigots like Malami. Enough is enough; it is time for Southern Nigeria to walk their talk.”
