The Taskforce Team of the Oyo State Rule of Law Enforcement Authority (OYRLEA) on Thursday apprehended several cows grazing along the fence of the Oyo State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
The cows, which numbered nine, were grazing openly by the motorcycle park, otherwise known as the ‘Okada’ park, beside the Secretariat gate, and were closely monitored before being captured.
The OYRLEA taskforce, noting the violation as environmentally and agriculturally related, immediately alerted the State Ministry of Agriculture, and an official report was made to the State’s Parliament Police Division, Secretariat Agodi, within the Secretariat.
Additional personnel were deployed, and the cows were taken to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Speaking on the offence, which is tantamount to the extant laws on anti-open grazing established by the State in 2019, the Chairperson of the Oyo State Rule of Law Enforcement Authority, Hon. Justice Aderonke Aderemi, ordered the prosecution of the offender without further delay.
Sitting at the Tribunal on charge number OYRLEA/19/12/2024, which was held at the Ministry of Environment the same day, N.Y. Aderibigbe, the prosecuting counsel, levied a four-count charge on the offender, drawn from the anti-open grazing law of Oyo State, 2019.
The offender, Nurudeen Semiu, upon arraignment, accepted the first two charges and pleaded not guilty to the others.
At the end of the trial, the presiding officer, Barrister Kunle Abimbola, pronounced judgement relating to the open-rearing charge counts and offered the option of a N1,700,000 fine or five years’ imprisonment for the offender.
(The Nation)
