CHAIRMAN of Southern Governors Forum Rotimi Akeredolu has berated Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu for questioning the legality of ban on open grazing.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Akeredolu accused Shehu of working for extraneous interests that were opposed to peaceful co-existence in Nigeria.
“Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travellers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy cannot but conclude that he works assiduously, for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.
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“There has never been any contention on this provision. It is clear that Mr Garba seems to have issues understanding the difference between licentious criminality and qualified rights under our law.
“It is our duty to continually nudge him off his current state of cognitive dissonance. His pronouncement betrays dubiety and mischief,” he said.
Akeredolu further issued a warning to Shehu and his ‘cohorts’ to desist from insulting elected representatives of the people, adding that the South would not be ceded to invaders masquerading as herdsmen.
Recall that Shehu had released a statement on Monday, condemning the banning of open grazing by the southern governors and describing it as “acts of politicking intended by its signatories to demonstrate their power.”
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.