As the sitting president in 2016, General Muhammadu Buhari told the Emir of Katsina that “It would be foolhardy for someone to just say he would chase us away. So where do we go” He uttered those words in reaction to the clamour for killer herdsmen to leave the forest of the South. When the language of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is as discriminatory as what we had in his eight years, we should not wonder why those herders became audacious under his watch! Last Wednesday, and for the first time since he became the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio showed some courage in leadership.
He was able to rise to the occasion when some senators, who ordinarily one should think would be the shining stars of the Red Chamber, decided to be funny. Akpabio’s “Cows are not citizens of Nigeria, Senator Aliero; are you arguing with me? The section you are referring to is talking about citizens of Nigeria. And cows are not citizens of Nigeria.
Cows can come from Niger, Chad or anywhere”, rings a bell in my ears even now. The Senate President was responding to the argument by Adamu Aliero, former governor of Kebbi State, that banning cows from open grazing would amount to infringing on the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. Aliero was not alone in that journey to the community of the shameless.
Another former governor and fellow senator, Danjuma Goje from Gombe Sate also argued in that direction. The duo expressed the opinions of majority of the northern senators o.