The National Grazing Reserve Bill currently before the National Assembly is capable of igniting genocide if passed into law and implemented, a frontline rights group warned on Wednesday.

In a statement issued from its headquarters in Onitsha, Anambra State, the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) described the bill as “controversial, genocidal and ethnic war drumming”.

“We restate our strong opposition to the Bill and insist that some religious fundamentalists have hijacked the Federal establishments in Nigeria and vowed to Islamize the country through a combination of violent and political means. The crude practice of Fulani Animal Husbandry throughout the country must be abolished and strictly restricted to the core north. The Federal Government must also hands off the epidemic Bill and refrains from its steady moves to plunge Nigeria into genocide and intractable anarchy,” Intersociety said in the statement signed by the Board Chairman Emeka Umeagbalasi and Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Programme, Barr Obianuju Joy Igboeli.

According to the group, “The Southern Nigeria and its sister old Middle Belt must say no to institutionalisation and nationalisation of crude and violent Fulani Animal Husbandry in their ancestral areas with the exception of its trading. They must say no to crude and violent Fulani Cattle grazing and pasturing methodologies in Nigeria. The Fulani cattle herders and owners must be reminded that right to freedom of movement guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution does not allow “right to freedom of violent movement” or “unprovoked guest hostilities against the host”. Nigerians must keep vigil and be vigilant until the criminal Bill is massively and legislatively destroyed to be dusted up no more.”

Intersociety berated Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, for saying during his recent outing in Enugu that the bill which is generating much heat across the country is not before the National Assembly. “We wish to state strongly that the referenced public statements are deceitful, diversionary, distractive and misleading,” Intersociety said.

Continuing to the group, “The controversial Bill is actively before the House of Reps segment of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and passively originated from the Sixth Senate Session (2007-2011). Till date, its original version exists in the National Assembly archive: http://nass.gov.ng/document/download/147.”

Intersociety called on “all Nigerians and members of the international community to refuse to be distracted or have their minds diverted,” adding: “Attempts by the powers that be to manipulate and suppress the rising public opinion against the obnoxious Bill; by denying the pendency of same, must be resisted with utter vehemence by all and sundry.”

•Photo shows Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.