Miyetti Allah drags Benue govt. to A’Court over Anti-Open Grazing law

The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Social-Cultural Association, on Monday, dragged Benue State government before the Court of Appeal sitting Abuja, seeking to upturn the Anti-Open Grazing Law that is currently in operation in the state.

The group, through their lawyer, Aliyu Ahmed, is praying the appellate court to set-aside a judgement the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court delivered on July 4, which declined its application for the Anti-Open Grazing Law that was passed by the Benue State House of Assembly to be abolished.

Other appellants that joined Miyatti Allah to challenge the dismissal of the application by the high court are Alhaji Abdullahi Bodojo and Engr Saleh Alhassan. They are urging the court to order the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to re-assign the case to another judge aside Justice Okon Abang, for it to be re-heard. It will be recalled that Justice Abang had in a judgement on July 4, threw away the suit on the premise that the originating summons the group brought before the court was incompetent.

The Judge went ahead and awarded N100,000 cost in favour of each of the 14 defendants in the case, which he said must first be paid by the plaintiffs before they could take any further steps. KILLER HERDSMEN: That BBC rating! Story of sorrow, tears and blood across the country(Opens in a new browser tab) Meantime, in their notice of appeal dated July 30, the appellants raised 10 grounds they urged the appellate court to consider and order that their case be re-listed for hearing. The appellants argued that the lower court was in error when it held that they had no valid originating summons even when they filed an amended process. They argued: “The appellants filed an irregular and voidable amended originating summons on the 31th May, 2019 without payment of the default tees.

“Yet the lower court held that the originating summons is invalid and a nullity. “It is trite law that a mistake of counsel cannot be visited on the litigant especial when it is pardonable and the irregular amended process filed on the 31st May, 2019 is before the court and the lower court have the duty to ensure that the suit of the appellants is heard on the merit.

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