By Gabriel Yough
Jalingo – Speaker of Taraba Assembly, Abel Diah, has referred members of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, protesting against the anti-open grazing bill, to the committee handling the public hearing on the bill.
Diah made the appeal on Monday in Jalingo when he addressed the protesters at the Assembly complex.
He said that the House had already set up a seven-man committee to organise a public hearing, where all stakeholders could freely express their positions on the bill.
“I am so surprised to see such a demonstration, particularly when the public hearing on the bill is about to commence.
“All stakeholders will have the opportunity to present their positions to the committee, which will determine whether the bill will be passed or not,’’ he said.
Diah, however, said that he personally believed that ranching was the best form of cattle rearing at the moment.
Earlier, the state Chairman of the association, Alhaji Sahabi Tukur, who led hundreds of members to the Assembly complex, told the speaker that the proposed law was ill-motivated and discriminatory.
Tukur said that the bill could not succeed because of the existence of stock routes, earmarked since the pre-colonial days through out West Africa, which authorised the movement of cattle in all parts of the region.
He urged the legislators to throw out the bill, which was not in the interest of their constituents.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association embarked on a peaceful demonstration from the Ministry of Works area to the Assembly complex.