Lagos Lawyer, Femi Falana
A senior advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has threatened to drag President Muhammadu Buhari to court over the deaths caused by the movement of cattle in the country, Vanguard reports.
Falana called on the president to look into deaths caused by the movement of thousands of heads of cattle in the country, stressing that the government must act swiftly to salvage the situation which is taking the lives of innocent farmers, destroying farmlands and many other tragedies.
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. 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 have 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.”
In a recent report, senator-elect from Bayelsa state, Ben Murray-Bruce, likened the deaths caused by Fulani herdsmen to that of Boko Haram. He said that Fulani clashes kill more than Boko Haram, hence, drastic measures should be taken.