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Taraba raises panel to probe clash
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to order the arrest and prosecution of the national leaders and members of the Miyetti Allah Breeders Association for allegedly making inciting remarks in the State.
The association’s national president, Alhaji Abdulahi Bello and secretary, Saleh Alhassan, he recalled, last week, at a press briefing, openly criticised the anti-grazing law recently signed by the state government, claiming that the Fulani were the aborigines of the Benue valley.
The association, Ortom added, vowed to fight the law with every means possible, insisting that the constitution guarantees them the freedom to graze anywhere nationwide.
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But the governor, while rising from a state security meeting yesterday in Makurdi, restated his administration’s commitment to the implementation of the law,x adding that the legislation was to promote ranching as obtains globally to address the perennial clashes between farmers and cattle breeders.
Assuring the citizens of protection of lives property, Ortom hinted that a town hall meeting would be convened to clarify the law with a view to avoiding friction.
Meanwhile, the Taraba government has inaugurated a committee to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the herdsmen, farmers’ clash in the southern and central axes of the state which resulted in loss of lives and wanton destruction of properties.
Deputy Governor Haruna Manu, who yesterday in Jalingo after a security meeting, noted that the panel would also proffer recommendations to avert future occurrences.
He stated that government had taken concrete measures to fish out the perpetrators, vowing that no stone will be left unturned to bring to book persons indicted in the crisis.
