Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki
A socio-political and cultural organization, Igbo Improvement Union (IIU), has condemned the killings of Pro-Biafra agitators in Anambra State.
The group after a detailed review of the state of Igbo nation in Nigeria, especially in the last one year, called on governors and states House of Assemblies in the five South east to enact a law banning cattle grazing in Igboland.
The group in a communiqué signed by the President-General of the group, Barr. Ugochukwu Agballah and other leaders, including Senator Anthony Agbo; former Speaker Enugu state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Eugene Odoh and Chief Edozie Njoku after their meeting in Abakaliki, said Ndigbo has lost hundreds of sons and daughters as well as farmlands worth millions of naira to herdsmen, whose alleged murderous activities have become unbearable in recent times.
While opposing the proposal for government creation of grazing reserves, the group, made up of eminent personalities in Igbo land, mostly former political office holders advised that cattle rearing should be seen as private business enterprise.
They said that those involved should be allowed to negotiate and acquire space for their business, while they convey the cattle on trucks to the point of sale, to avoid destruction of farmlands or bloody clashes with farmers.
According to the group, the activities of the herdsmen if not checked, could cause the bloody breakup of the nation.Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world and yet nobody encounters cows on the road.
The group noted that Igbo transporters and other Nigerian transporters negotiate to buy spaces which they use as motor parks across the country where they operate their transport businesses with obedience to the laws of the land.
