The apex sociocultural Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide yesterday insisted that their position was that there was not going to be any open grazing in any part of Igboland but said it would use persuasion on any governor that holds contrary view or position on the issue.
This is as Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has backtracked on his reported opposition to anti-open grazing when he told State House reporters that there was no need for the law and that there was no anti-open grazing bill in the state since farmers and herders had an understanding and had been coexisting peacefully.
Spokesman of Ohanaeze, Hon. Alex Ogbonna, told THISDAY that the position of the Igbo apex organisation had not changed but that should anyone hold a contrary view, they would engage the person and through dialogue, they would arrive at a common position.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo has already taken a position that open grazing will not be allowed in Igboland and that position has not changed. If anybody has a contrary opinion, there is no need to threaten or apply sanction; what we will do with such a person is to engage him and let him state his convictions and we will also state ours and make the person see why we said it should not be practiced in Igboland, at the end we will resolve it,” he explained.
On the statement issued by one Okechukwu Isiguzoro purporting to have been issued by Ohanaeze, Ogbonna said any person who was issuing any statement on behalf of the Igbo organisation other than those who won election at Owerri was an “impostor” and should be disregarded.
Isiguzoro had issued a statement threatening to ostracise Governor Uzodinma from Igbo land for breaking ranks with Southern governors who at a meeting in Asaba, Delta State, took a common position to ban open grazing in Southern Nigeria and later in their second meeting in Lagos, gave a September 1 deadline for member states to outlaw the practice.
In what appears as a retraction contained in a statement by his Media Adviser, Mr. Oguwuike Nwachukwu, Uzodinma expressed regret that his statement on open grazing law was “interpreted out of context” by a section of the media.
He said what he meant was that farmers and herders were peacefully coexisting in the state as a result of mutual respect and understanding.
“The governor who spoke through the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Declan Emelumba also disclosed that contrary to insinuations, the state has an Open Grazing Law which became operative since 2006,” the statement said.
Explaining further, the governor said the law provided for areas that were restricted from open grazing and the herders had been abiding by it, adding, “The MOU the farmers and Herders signed was to strengthen the existing law and it is working very well.”
The statement said that the governor regretted the “extreme interpretation” the media gave to his comments on the matter, adding that what was important was the peaceful way farmers and herders had been coexisting in the state.
He pointed out that the actual thing the governor meant was that, “whereas a law on anti-grazing may be desirable, dialogue and understanding as is the case in Imo State were more effective in addressing the conflict,” and urged Nigerians to embrace inclusiveness and tolerance as necessary tools in building and sustaining a united country.
According to him, “all activities of the states and the people should be geared towards uniting the country and not creating divisions,” and commended farmers and herders in Imo State for living in peace and pledged the support of government towards ensuring that they sustain their cordial relationship.
