By Nifemi Adefemi
Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has directed security agencies to clamp down on violators of the state’s anti-open grazing law.
Diri gave the fresh directive last Thursday when he stopped his convoy to apprehend two herders and their cattle at the Sampou community junction along the East-West road in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the state.
The governor expressed anger that despite several warnings, some persons were still brazenly breaching the law against open grazing in the state.
On March 10, 2021, the Bayelsa governor signed the “Livestock Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Law, 2021.”
He stated that henceforth, law enforcement agencies must ensure that they apply the full weight of the law on violators.
The governor directed the state’s Chief Security Coordinator, Gen. Eric Angaye (rtd), who was also in the convoy, to ensure the arrested herders were prosecuted to serve as deterrence to others.
Earlier, at a meeting on Thursday with the Arewa community in the state, youths of Yenizue-Epie community, traditional rulers and some stakeholders in Government House, Yenagoa, the governor restated the position that the ban on open grazing was still in force.
Recently, there was apprehension in the state following the killing of farmers in Biseni and Zarama communities in Yenagoa Local Government Area allegedly by herdsmen.