Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has knocked the Presidency over its opposition to the decision of Governors of Southern states to ban open grazing.
Naija News had reported that the Presidency condemned the Southern Governors’ proposed plan to enforce the ban on open grazing.
In a statement on Monday by the Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu, the Presidency said the plan by the governors to ban open grazing in the Southern part of the country is of “questionable legality”.
Reacting to the comment of the Presidency, National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson, described the comment by the presidency as irrational and insensitive.
In a statement on Monday, Robinson noted that the people of Southern Nigeria are in full support of what the governors have done.
The statement reads: “Our position is clear. When the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami in his comment condemned the position of the governors of the South on open grazing, we clearly said that such position was clearly inconsistent and irrational.
“For the spokesman of the President to come up and say that decisions are taken by elected officials; democratically elected officials of 17 states of the country, should be discountenanced is the height of irresponsibility.
“It is idiotic and deserves all the negatives that we can find to qualify it. And this attitude of Garba Shehu has shown obviously that he is not the Spokesman of the President. Garba Shehu is now the spokesman of the Fulani ethnic nationality. That is what he has reduced himself to.
“He is not the spokesperson of the President of Nigeria. He has reduced himself to be the spokesman of Fulani nationality, a section of the country.
“It’s very unfortunate that Mr. President will still allow Garba Shehu to be in the presidency. The decision of the governors of the South is a settled matter. The people of Southern Nigeria are in full support of what the governors have done.
“The governors only gave voice to the position of the people. They were elected by the people, so they will always stand by the people.
“What they did was to give voice to what their people wanted them to say. We are solidly behind them and that if anybody should be discountenanced it is the likes of Shehu and their bias.
“They think that they own this country. Nobody owns this country. We stand by the governors and we encourage them to go ahead and implement the ban on open grazing. Open grazing is outdated, it is archaic and it has no place in a modern society like ours.”
The article was originally published on Nigeria News