The Nigeria Police Force have said it cannot arrest herdsmen who let their cows stray and graze on airport runways in the country. Commissioner for Police, Airport Command, Mustapha Dandaura said this on Friday, adding that herdsmen could only be arrested in states where the anti-open grazing law was effective.
Dandaura however, noted that all policemen and other security officials at the airports had been mandated to be on high alert to forestall cows such situation.“It’s only in states where the anti-open grazing law is in place that herdsmen can be arrested for allowing their cattle to graze on airport runways,” the commissioner noted.
“Apart from those states, we have not been told to start arresting herdsmen. But we have already alerted our men at the airports to ensure such incident does not occur again. The state police commands have also been carried along and everyone is on the alert.
“We can’t have a situation whereby cows would be straying onto and grazing on airport runways because it is embarrassing. Everyone is now on the alert and it’s going to be prevented.”Last week, an Air Peace flight from Lagos was stopped from landing at the Akure Airport, Ondo State as cows took over the runway.
