Protests kicks off in Plateau regarding Grazing Policy

The grazing reserves protest organised by a group of Plateau youths has kicked-off as planned, amidst heavy police and security presence.

The organisers of the protest convened at the venue in Rayfield (Opp the old Government house) at 8:00am ahead of the protest start at 9:00am.

However, the leader of the protest – Hon. Dachung Bagos was not available to address the youth because the police had invited him to attend a parley at 8:00 am.

At 10:00 am when this report was filed, Hon. Bagos was still with the security agents and was yet to be released. When our reporter contacted Hon. Bagos to confirm the situation of things, he confirmed that he was still in the office of the commissioner of police and that the interaction was progressing on.

At the protest venue, several youth carried inscriptions denouncing the inclusion of Plateau as a grazing area, calling on the State Government to de-list Plateau immediately. Among the protesters are the disabled, the aged, students and the youths from virtually all political parties – who made clear to our reporter that the issue on ground transcended political differences and so they decided to join hands together in protest.

It would be recalled that the state government, through the Bureau of Peace and Conflict Resolution had appealed to the youth to stand-down on the protest – ultimately giving concessions that stakeholder engagement and consultation would be initiated (which was one of the demands of the youth). However the youth have said they are unsatisfied with the little concession and that the only pre-condition for standing-down on the protest, would be if Plateau is totally de-listed from the grazing policy like other states like Benue, Taraba etc.

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