The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, says the National
Assembly will not support the creation of grazing reserves anywhere in the
country.
Addressing newsmen on Sunday after a meeting of the South East governors
and stakeholders in Enugu, Ekweremadu said that there was no bill on the
creation of grazing reserves before the National Assembly.
He, therefore, said that the purported bill for the creation of grazing
reserves was a “hoax”, adding that the press should strive to stop such
rumours.
“There is no such proposal or bill on the creation of grazing reserves
either in the Senate or House of Representatives.
“Nobody is considering it; not even at the executive level. I do not think
they are considering it but we will not support it even if it has been
considered,” he said.
Ekweremadu said that the meeting was convened in reaction to the attack on
the people of Uzo Uwani by suspected herdsmen.
He said that the meeting reviewed all that happened since then and thanked
all stakeholders who had shown sympathy to victims of the attack.
On the absence of Imo and Anambra governors, Ekweremadu said: “The South
East governors proposed to meet today to review these matters but
regrettably, the message did not get to Imo and Anambra governors.
“So you can see mainly the PDP governors are here. So, they had to review
the matter and more importantly, ensure that every governor will be in
attendance in the next meeting.
“The meeting is rescheduled within the week where all the governors are
expected to be in attendance,” he said.
Ekweremadu said that the meeting looked at a more regional approach to
curbing the menace of the herdsmen so as to ensure that it did not happen
again.
“We are looking at a concrete and more coordinated approach on how to
protect our people from this carnage,” he said.
Also speaking, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi said that there was no
disunity among governors in the South East zone.
Umahi said that the governors would take a cursory look at the federal
budget, when signed into law, so as to ensure that the zone got what was
due to it.
He said that the governors would ensure the rehabilitation of federal
roads in the zone if such arrangements were captured in the budget.
“I am sure the Federal Government’s budget is not yet signed. So when it
is signed, it will be the duty of all zones to start agitating for
attention,” Umahi said.
NAN reports that Governor Umahi, Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and
Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia attended the meeting.