By Ogar Monday, House of Assembly Correspondent
The Cross River State House of Assembly was Tuesday forced to postpone its plenary due to power outage, just as the House was deliberating on the proposed Grazing Reserve Bill at the National Assembly.
The power failure occurred while members were deliberating on the item “Matters of Urgent Public Importance” which had several members sharing their thoughts on the Grazing Reserve Bill before the National Assembly.
Speaking earlier, the member representing Yala II State Constituency, Hon. Ugana Lukpata, who is also the Deputy Chief Whip, described as devastating the impact of the Fulani herdsman depicting what happened in Adamawa, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Enugu and Oyo States.
His words: “Considering that Cross River State is a part of Nigeria and we have boundaries with the North, and there are herdsmen with us, it is imperative therefore that we speak out before we wake up one morning and see our land being invaded”.
Also lending his voice to the debate, the Member representing Yakurr II Constituency, Hon. Eteng Williams, and Adviser to the Speaker, said he and the entire members of his constituency summarily reject the planned grazing reserve as they are farmers.
He wondered why the Federal Government will go out of its way to secure land for private businesses without recourse to what the owners of the land feel.
Also speaking, Hon. Ogbor Ogbor, member representing Biase State Constituency said the State already had it hands occupied with its own problems and will do well to avoid the problem having grazing reserves in the State will bring, especially with the Ak47 wielding herdsmen encroaching into farmlands in the State.
He enjoined his colleagues and the general public to also join hands, be firm and not allow the bill see the light of day.
All other members who spoke supported the position that the State Assembly should kick against the bill.
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