Benue: Court jails herdsman 4 years for breaching anti-open grazing law

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Adamu Ango, a herder from Doma Local Government Area in Nasarawa State, was sentenced to four years in prison by an Upper Area Court in Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area, Benue State, for breaking the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017.

The defendant was also fined N1 million by the sitting judge, Gbagyo Orkpe, Esq., and directed to reimburse the complainants’ farms for damages totaling N5 million.

The case started on August 5, 2025, when a farmer named Udewua Evarestus reported to Camp Nagi Police Station that he discovered a sizable herd of cattle grazing on both his rice farm at Tse Ihyo in Gaange Tongov Ward and on the farmland of another farmer named Matthew Igbana, according to Police Prosecutor Inspector Matthew Ukpor. Over N6 million worth of rice, maize, and guinea corn crops were damaged by the animals, which were supposedly under Ango’s control.

Ango was later taken into custody by a police patrol squad while 57 cattle were freely grazing on the impacted property.

The herder acknowledged the crime during the trial, but he begged for mercy, saying he followed his boss, Alhaji Jatoi Bui of Doma, Nasarawa State, who allegedly instructed him to graze freely in Benue in exchange for an undisclosed “payment.”

Judge Orkpe stated in his ruling that the herder’s confession was a blatant violation of Sections 19(1) and (2) of the 2017 law prohibiting open grazing. The prison sentence, penalties, and reparation order were then handed out by him.

The case is one of the most recent attempts by Benue State officials to strictly implement its anti-open grazing laws in order to reduce the frequency of disputes between farmers and herders.

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