By Nonsochukwu Uwa
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Tuesday announced April 27, 2022, as the deadline for the ban on open grazing after which they would commence enforcement of the ban in Igboland.
IPOB made this known in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful.
The pro-Biafra movement said the decision was in line with the position of the South-East Governors who had already banned open grazing, as well as the open grazing laws passed by states in the region.
IPOB also said it was worried that since the law was passed the law enforcement agencies were unable to enforce it.
However, IPOB called on cattle owners to build ranches if they want to still do the cattle business in the region.
Giving details on the ban on open grazing, IPOB said: “We the global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, under the command and leadership of our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to make the following clarifications concerning the ban on the movement of cows which will take effect from April 27, 2022.
“From April 27, 2022, we shall commence the enforcement of the ban on open grazing which has since been pronounced by South-East Governors and passed into law by many states in Biafran land, but the Nigeria security agencies have failed to enforce them. Thus, from the said date, no cows should be seen roaming the streets of Biafraland.
“From April 27, 2022, anybody interested in cow business anywhere in Biafraland must have a ranch and properly mark the cows. Cows seen outside ranches with effect from this date shall be treated as contraband products. Owners of such cows should blame themselves.
“Owners of cows and ranches should properly mark them with their ranch name or symbol for easy identification. The spelt out measures have become necessary to stop the senseless and wanton killings in our land by jihadists masquerading as herdsmen.”
“We want to stop the incessant invasion of our communities and raping of our mothers and sisters by herdsmen. Enough is enough! Our action is not targeted against any tribe. We are only taking this measure as a necessity for self-protection and preservation.
“Igbo people alone in Biafraland spend more than N3 trillion naira every year on cows. We, therefore, want to curtail using our money to finance the genocidal attacks on our people by herdsmen. We want our people to breed native cows on our land and also put them in a ranch. We won’t tolerate the wandering of cattle again on our land,” IPOB said.
