The Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON), has said that the federal government’s decision to revive grazing routes across the country is not the solution to the security challenges.
In a communique issued at the end of their physical and virtual meeting which held between June 17 and 19, in Warri, Delta state, the group said, encouraging open grazing routes “as is being done by the federal government might occasion incessant clashes, violence and wanton destruction of lives and properties.”
The communique jointly signed by Arome Okwori and Olatunji Omole, president and secretary of CLASFON respectively, and made available to journalists on Wednesday in Kaduna, declared support for the ban on open grazing by governors of the Southern states.
It recommended “ranching which as the modern way of cattle rearing.”
“Encouraging open grazing or grazing routes as is being done by the federal government might occasion incessant clashes, violence and wanton destruction of lives and properties and other worrisome developments which are inimical to the constitutionally guaranteed rights to preserve lives and protect properties”, the communique said.
Also commenting on the suspension of of Twitter and moves by government to regulate the social media in Nigerian, CLASFON said the suspension of the microblogging platform by the federal government has adversely affected the flow of direct foreign investment to the country.
“The action taken by the Federal Government has adversely affected the flow of foreign direct investment
“CLASFON condemns the suspension of Twitter social media platform in its entirety as same is a violation of the fundamental human right of the citizens enshrined in section 39(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’s Rights.
“The action taken by the federal government has adversely affected the flow of foreign direct investment into our country and is also having a negative impact on the means of livelihood of our teeming youths thereby causing them untold hardship bearing in mind that most of youths are unemployed by governments and the organised private sector and some of them undertake gainful activities using Twitter social media platform”, the group said.
It called on the federal government to reconsider its decision while also “urging the Management of Twitter to ensure effective monitoring of its platform to prevent the spread of hateful, offensive and damaging posts/tweets.”
The fellowship also commended efforts by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other relevant actors over the suspension of the strike by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and called for the speedy implementation of the recommendations and agreement reached by the relevant stakeholders on financial autonomy to the judiciary and the state legislatures.
The fellowship further applauded the recent steps taken by the National Assembly towards amending some provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and members of Legislative arm to ensure that this exercise is pursued to a logical conclusion.
