The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Right Honourable (Pastor) Kola Oluwawole, has described the call by the Presidency on states that have promulgated anti-grazing bill to repeal it so as to accommodate herdsmen as an attempt to cow state Assemblies.
He said Ekiti State House of Assembly would not allow such development to cow it into surrendering the safety of the people of the state.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on media, Stephen Gbadamosi, on Thursday, Oluwawole said Ekiti State was not ready to go back on “our decision to ensure the safety of lives and property of our electorate.”
Apparently in response to the alleged call by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Ali, that states that enacted anti-grazing laws should reverse them, Oluwawole said the state’s House of Assembly had taken care of both indigenes and nonindigenes in the Law it passed for the benefit of all residents of the state, peace and tranquility.
“We can not be cowed from any quarters. As an institution established by law, we operate within the ambit of our mandates. How can anybody ask us to go back to Egypt?
“The anti-grazing law we made in the Ekiti State House of Assembly is holistic. We have taken into consideration the welfare of all electorate in the state, be it indigene or nonindigene. In Ekiti, cows will not struggle for space with humans. They must remain where they should.
“We appreciate the support of His Excellency, Dr Peter Ayodele Fayose in the process of making that law. And we are not ready to compromise the peace that law has engendered here since it was passed. We know how many innocent citizens of Ekiti State we have lost to herdsmen menace. We won’t condone more.
“In any case, we came on oath to promise to protect them and their properties. We won’t renege on that promise,” he said.
