Nigeria’s southern govs want ban on open grazing, south to produce 2023 president
The 17 governors of Southern Nigeria on Monday in Lagos resolved to ban open grazing of cattle in the entire southern part of the country and want the position of the president of the country to shift to the South in 2023.
The Southern Governors Forum made the declarations in a communique issued at the end of their meeting and signed by their Chairman and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
The communique reads in part: “The Southern Governors Forum at the end of the meeting held on Monday, 5th July, 2021 reviewed the situation in the Country and focused on the current security situation, constitutional amendment, Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).”
In what appears to be a reaffirmation of the decisions they took during their historic maiden meeting in Asaba, Delta State in May, the governors announced that with effect from September 1, 2021, all states must promulgate and put to effect the ban of nomadic cattle herding in their states.
The governors who seem to have found their voice and benefit of unity among them following the “Asaba Accord,” also insisted that in 2023, their collective position is that power must shift from the North to Southern Nigeria.
The southern governors’ forum frowned on selective criminal administration of justice and resolved that arrests should be made within the ambit of the law.
They also asserted that as chief security officers, they would no longer condone what looks like invasion of their territories by security operatives and agencies taking orders from Abuja.
Also, the seventeen southern governors unanimously rejected the decision of the National Assembly to pass the Electoral Act and exclude electronic transmission of results even after accepting electronic voting.
They also declared their support for a united One Nigeria that is founded on and operating strictly on justice, fairness and equity.
Periscope International recalls that in the past week, the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and attempted arrest of Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Igboho, stirred the hornets nest and unsettled political watchers particularly from the south who began to question the alleged ‘selective’ modality and motive of the arrests by the country’s northern-dominated security architecture.