IMO grazing bill, dead on arrival - Speaker

*CAN warns against passage of proposed law

From Angela Nkwo-Akpolu, Owerri

A move by a member of the Imo State House of Assembly for the passage of Grazing and Ranching Bill into law is an exercise in futility, the Speaker, Hon. Acho Ihim, has said

Ihim told the people of the state that the “bill is dead before arrival.”

According to him, the bill would not be accepted, asserting that “the proposed grazing, ranching, colony, or whatever name it may be called is already dead even before its arrival.”

He spoke as the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) declared on Thursday that the bill would never be accepted in Imo.

In a statement signed by CAN Secretary, Rev Divine Eches, the association said: “We state categorically that Imo will not and will never in any way accept this bill.”

The Speaker, who also issued a statement through his spokesman, Mr. Marcel Ekwezuo, maintained that “the proposed Grazing Bill was the same old and publicly perceived odious, detestable and obnoxious bill introduced at the National Assembly which last year was greeted with a public outburst across the country.”

He explained that in a bid to stop it, “the State Assembly hosted all other Houses of Assembly in the South East and South–South wherein all the Houses in one voice resolved to reject the bill in all its ramifications”, stressing that “we cannot make a volte face on the same issue.”

Ihim said: “It would be antithetical if not foolhardy for a House who in the interest of the entire southern region invested so much at ensuring that the regions rejected the bill, to now turn back to smuggle in the same most-hated bill for Imolites to contend with”.

He therefore asked the people to go about their normal business, because the “state House of Assembly is not only concerned with what concerns the citizenry, but that it is also stimulated by whatever stimulates Imo people during this Rescue Mission administration under Governor Rochas Okorocha.”

The Speaker described the Grazing Bill as “a very wicked proposal against the people,” adding that “no single honourable member may even want it mention to his or her ears.”

In the same vein, CAN, the umbrella body of all churches in the state said that it was an executive bill sponsored by a member seeking cheap popularity and urged its members to disregard it.

CAN said that it had been inundated with phone calls and visits by Imo people on the dangers the bill portends, even as they commended the residents for their commitment to the Imo project.

Eches maintained that the Imo State House of Assembly had denied any such move, adding that even the lawmakers had championed its rejection.

The statement read: “We have been assured by the leadership of the House through the Chief Press Secretary of Mr Speaker that the leadership of the House will soon dissociate itself from the said bill. That the Speaker having led the Southern Speakers’ Forum last year to reject such a bill, it will now amount to double standard if such bill happens to find its way through the backdoor to the House with same Speaker.”