Herdsmen in Oyo State on Wednesday rejected the proposed anti-grazing bill currently being considered in the state House of Assembly.

Speaking through the National Chairman of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari, the herders pleaded with the people of the state not to allow the bill sail through as it was a ploy to punish them.

Bayari, who delivered an 18-page position paper while speaking at the public presentation of views and observations on the Grazing Regulations Bill 2019 held in Ibadan, the state capital kicked against the bill and its sponsors.

According to Bayari, the sponsors of the bill did not probe into the detailed history of the herdsman and his cattle rearing culture, tradition and hereditary attachment to his means of livelihood.

He said the bill failed to take into consideration small scale herdsmen, rhetorically asking how a herdsman who owns 50 cows or less could afford to lease a plot of ranch to keep and graze his livestock and buy feed for the animals.

“From our calculations, one cow will eat grass, drink water, drugs and other maintenance costs to the tune of N1, 500 a day.

“We shall continue to be law-abiding citizens of this state and here undertake to ensure that we fish out all the bad elements among us that are distorting the peace and tranquility of Oyo State,” he added.