Suspend anti-grazing law, FG tells Taraba, Benue, Ekiti

The federal government yesterday called for the suspension of anti-grazing law currently being enforced in Taraba, Ekiti and Benue states.
The position was made known by the Minister of Defence, Brigadier-General Mansur Dan-Ali (retd), in a presentation at a security meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said, the states should employ other channels to deal with farmers and herdsmen crisis.
The minister called on the State Security Service (SSS) and the police, to prosecute all suspects arrested in connection with the violence and killings trailing the farmers and herdsmen clashes across the country.
He also called for the establishment of National Commission on the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria.
The minister also stressed the need for the establishment of a joint Task Force Operation similar to Operation Safe Heaven in Jos, Plateau state, to cover Zamfara and Birni Gwari axis of Kaduna state with headquarters in Gusau, Zamfara state.
He said the meeting considered the killings and kidnapping in the North-west, particularly along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, even as the service chiefs reviewed the activities of armed bandits and other criminal elements in Anka, Maru, Kauran Namoda and Talatan Mafara of Zamfara state.
Dan-Ali further informed the meeting that the United States of America conveyed to the government of Nigeria the implementation of Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act Section 231.
“It is pertinent to state that the award of contract for the procurement of the Mi-35M helicopters was completed before the act was signed into law in August 2017,” he said.
He said the Nigerian Army has launched Operations Last Hold to flush out the insurgents from their hideouts in Lake Chad Basin, and free communities to enable IDPs return to their homes, adding that the operation would last till the end of August 2018.
Those who attended the meeting were the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd); Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Abubakar Sadique; and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Kpotu Idris, among others.

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