A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, has sent a Fulani herder, Muhammad Abdullahi, to one-year imprisonment.
The convict, who is from Mahanga village in Awe Local Government Area of Nassarawa State, was convicted for violating the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017.
When the case came up for hearing, the Police Prosecuting Officer, ASP Gbakor Hyacinth, told the Court that the State Commander of the Livestock Guards, Linus Zaki, and his team arrested the accused on March 2nd, 2020, around 07:30 pm along Guma Village of Guma Local Government with cows grazing openly, contrary to section 19(2) of Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017 of the state.
When the charges were read and interpreted to Abdullahi in Hausa Language, he pleaded guilty.
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However, counsel for the accused, T.I. Ikyagba, however, pleaded the court for leniency on behalf of his client, adding that the accused, a first-time offender, did not waste the time of the court as he immediately accepted he committed the offence.
Delivering the judgment after hearing the plea for leniency, the presiding judge, Isaac Ajim, sentenced the accused to one-year imprisonment with an option of a N500, 000 fine.
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