Governor Fayose Releases Nine Cows To Foster Unity With Cattle Breeders Association.

Governor Ayo Fayose, the chief security officer of Ekiti State, on Thursday released nine cows ‘arrested’ and ‘detained’ in some parts of the state for contravening the Prohibition of Cattle and Other Ruminants Grazing Law back to their owners.

The cows were seized by the operatives of Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals (EGEM) recently inaugurated to crack down on grazing outside hours allowed by law and in unauthorised places. This was consequent upon a stakeholders’ meeting held by Fayose with the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Ekiti and Southwest, traditional rulers and Fulani Community where the governor also signed a peace pact with the body.

The governor explained that traditional rulers have been empowered to enforce the grazing law in their domains and apportion lands to herdsmen to do their businesses under a controlled situation.

Fayose said: “I have decided to release these cows to strengthen our union. So, I expect you to comply with the law because after now if you contravene the law, we will take appropriate sanctions against you.“You can’t because you are rearing cows be destroying our farmlands. Our people rely on these  farms to survive and the moment you are destroying them, then they will not be interested in going into farming and hunger will affect all of us.

”You are all my brothers and there is no reason to trouble you.‎ Many of you have been here for long and your families are here too.‎ Ali Garba from Malumfashi , Kaduna State was part of my first term administration and currently an Igbo man is a Councillor in Ward 10 of Ado Local Government. What we are doing today is to ensure a peaceful relationship between you, your host communities and the state government.

“Those killed in Oke Ako are gone and can’t be alive again and we should not allow a repeat of such terrible incident.‎ Ekiti people buy cattle from you and you are making profits.“We are not asking for much, just for you to obey our law.The law is not targeted at those who obey the law.You have to register with traditional ruler of your host community.

”It is you who will inform the monarch of new faces coming to join you ‎or pretending to be herdsmen. Going armed will not be tolerated. No form of weapon is allowed in Ekiti State for cattle rearing.“A company will be monitoring your activities fro‎m the air. They have done air surveillance of Ijero Forest Reserve and we saw some buildings deep down the forest. We must all be security conscious,” he noted.