From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The National Publicity Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Emmah Gospel Isong, has criticised the plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to reopen cattle grazing routes.
Fielding questions from reporters on national issues in Calabar on Monday, Bishop Isong, who is also the General Overseer and President of the Christian Central Chapel International (CCCI), maintained that open grazing is no longer a standard practice the world over, with most countries adopting modern ranching.
He said the president’s commitment to open grazing is an indication that he has a soft spot for pastoralists in spite of the reported violent herder-farmer clashes across the country.
He called out the president for pandering to herders, maintaining that the decision is lopsided and the president should avoid taking decisions that portrays him as being biased.
‘The president, with all due respect, should separate himself from taking decisions that will make people think he is a patron of Miyetti Allah,’ he said.
‘He should listen to the other side of the cry. When you want to open up cattle routes, how about chicken, fish and goat routes because cattle are not the only protein in Nigeria.
‘This kind of lopsided decision by the President should be avoided so that people will not see him as being biased and seem to be heating up the system more,’ Isong said.
According to him, it is time the president started building bridges across the country to reduce tension so that people can see him as a father of the nation.
‘And by building bridges, this is the high time the President visited Owerri, Bayelsa and cater for people from other political divides.
‘He should also stop further statements, policies, divisive tendencies that will make people see him as already taking sides because these statements add salt to injury and he should speak as the father of the nation,’ he said.