ICC Note: The president of a Christian organization in Nigeria, Bishop Sam Oyede, has described that a grazing bill that would provide a corridor in each state pf Nigeria for Fulani herdsmen to graze their cattle, is ‘dead on arrival’. This bill, which is currently being debated before the Nigerian National assembly represents an attempt to come to some sort of land agreement that will curb Fulani violence against agrarian Christian communities, primarily across Nigeria’s Middle Belt central region. Oyede stated that the significant amount of controversy surrounding this bill will make it impossible for it to easily or quickly get through both chambers of the Assembly. Many Nigerians and foreign observers, including Christians, say that this bill will do nothing to solve the crisis, since they claim that the violence is not simply about land but that the militant herdsmen’s motivations involve persecuting Christians as well.

07/15/2016, Nigeria (Vanguard) – President of God’s Fountain of Life Bible Mission, International Incorporated, Bishop Sam Oyede, has said that the Grazing Reserves Bill presently before the National Assembly, was dead on arrival.

He said that the nature of the bill and the controversy trailing it would make it difficult for it to sail through in the two chambers of the National Assembly.

Fielding questions from newsmen at Oleh, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, Oyede, argued that if the Federal Government considers it necessary to provide land for Fulani herdsmen to graze their cattle in any part of the country, it should also think of providing land for crop farmers in the South-South, South-West and South-East geo-political zones to make up for the land they would have lost to the herdsmen through the Grazing Reserves.

…

[Full Story]