TheCable

The house of representatives has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to compel the nation’s security agencies to enforce the law banning open grazing in Benue state.

The lawmakers also asked the president to direct the security agencies to tackle the incessant killings in various parts of the country.

The resolutions were sequel to a motion raised during plenary on Thursday by Hassan Saleh, a lawmaker from Benue.

About 26 persons were reportedly killed in a recent clash involving herdsmen and residents in the state.

Saleh blamed the killings on the “refusal of the police and other security services to enforce the anti-grazing law” of the state.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker said the police and other security services have “turned their backs” on the people of the state while “herdsmen continued to hack down defenceless citizens”.

He said: “The government has not restricted the herdsmen who have vowed to continue the killings until the anti-open grazing law is reversed.

“The IG and other security services must arrest these killers and prosecute them. We are playing with the future of this country.”

The lawmakers resolved that going by the provisions of the 1999 constitution, Benue is empowered to enact laws for the good of its citizens and as such, the security agencies have no alternative than to enforce the anti-open grazing law.

They had earlier asked Buhari to sack Ibrahim Idris, the inspector-general of police, over the same matter.