Cephas Iorhemen 
Alleges, law prohibiting open grazing has been tactically relaxed
A Tiv socio cultural group under the auspices of Tiv Youth Patriotic Front (TYPF) in Benue State has called on Governor Hyacinth Alia to fulfill his campaign promises of resettling the displaced Internally Displaced Persons IDPs back to their ancestral homes.
The group also implored the governor to ‘own up and blame his inadequacies, failures and poor handling of the state to his glaring inexperience in leadership and administrative matters and stop accusing his predecessors of interfering in his government.
Governor Alia at the weekend during a news briefing at the government house, told his predecessors to shut up and stop interfering in his government if they have nothing tangible to add to what he is doing to develop the state.
But the Tiv socio-cultural group in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Yoosu Sooter Daniel said the governor has been responsible for the actions and inaction of his administration.
“How could Governor Alia who has frozen the state’s accounts thereby paralyzing day to day running of government accuse his predecessors of interfering in his government?
“The governor has been solely responsible for the actions and inaction of his government, thereby creating a rift between him and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“How then does he find it convenient to accuse his predecessors of interference”?
“The group also alleged that despite claims that the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law was still in force, it has discovered that cows are grazing openly in the state without being arrested by the livestock guards.
“It maintained that the law prohibiting open grazing in the state has been tactically relaxed, thereby raising questions if the action was in line with the reconciliation and co-existence agenda canvassed by the governor during the campaigns.
“The group called on Governor Alia to fulfill his campaign promises of resettling the IDPs back to their ancestral homes, clear arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities as it is the case in all other states of the federation.
The group further urged Governor Alia to implement the anti-open grazing law to curtail herdsmen from killing Benue people abd taking over their lands and to prioritize security.
The Tiv youths concluded by calling on the governor to concentrate on the business of governance and desist from propaganda.
“We call on Governor Alia to stop shouting wolf when there is none and to stop chasing shadows and concentrate on the business of governance .
“Government is not ran by blackmail and propaganda and there is need to advice the governor to leave his predecessors alone and accept his failures, nobody is interfering in his government “.
