An Upper Area Court in Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State, has sentenced a herder, Adamu Ango, from Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, to four years in prison for violating the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017.
The presiding judge, Gbagyo Orkpe, Esq., also imposed a fine of N1 million on the convict and ordered him to pay N5 million in compensation for damages to the complainants’ farms.
According to Police Prosecutor, Inspector Matthew Ukpor, the case began on August 5, 2025, when a farmer, Udewua Evarestus, reported to Camp Nagi Police Station that he found a large herd of cattle grazing on his rice farm at Tse Ihyo in Gaange Tongov Ward, as well as on the farmland of another farmer, Matthew Igbana. The cattle, allegedly under Ango’s control, destroyed rice, maize, and guinea corn crops worth over N6 million.
A police patrol team later arrested Ango on the farm with 57 cattle grazing openly on the affected land.
During trial, the herder admitted to the offense but pleaded for leniency, claiming he acted on the instructions of his employer, Alhaji Jatoi Bui of Doma, Nasarawa State, who allegedly told him to graze freely in Benue after making an unspecified “payment.”
In delivering judgment, Judge Orkpe said the herder’s confession constituted a clear breach of Section 19(1) and (2) of the 2017 anti-open grazing law. He then handed down the prison term alongside the fines and compensation order.
The case marks one of the latest enforcement efforts by Benue State authorities to curb recurring farmers-herders conflicts through strict application of its anti-open grazing legislation.
