Cattle owners demand compensation from Enugu government for cows killed from

Fulani Southeast Cattle Owners Association has condemned the continuous silence of Enugu State Government over the killing of 10 cattle of its members alleged at Aku community in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Chairman of the group, Ardo Saed Baso, while speaking to Daily Times in Enugu called on the State Government to without delay pay them the compensation as anything short of that will amount to injustice.

He said, “People talk about our cows destroying their crops and farmlands, but nobody now talks about where 10 cattle were recently killed by unknown persons at Aku community in Igbo-Etiti.

“Nobody wants to investigate the killing our cattle at Aku. We want them to compensate the owners of the cattle. We are not happy. Tell the government we are not happy because of what happened to our people at Aku community,” he added.

Barso said the owners of the killed cattle were going through untold hardship because of the loss they incurred, urging the state government to wade into the matter before it escalates.

Meanwhile, a human right group, Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, has appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to re-open the Enugu Goat Market popularly known as the New Artisan Market to ease the sufferings of 10,000 traders in the market and other residents.

According to the caption of the letter, “Appeal to to re-open the goat market Enugu(popularly known as New Artisan Market); You cannot  relocate a market created by law within 48 hours without repealing the extant law and making a new law for the relocation,” and copied to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS.

The CRRAN President, Olu Omatayo in his letter to the governor said it was wrong for government to relocate a market established by law within 48 hours without first repealing such law.

Omotayo insisted that, “Even if the government wants to relocate a market there must be a period of transition, and due process of the law must be followed and adequate compensation paid to the affected promptly as envisaged by Sections 43 and 44(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended).