Tinubu to Plateau leaders: let peace reign
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has tasked Plateau State leaders to lay the foundation for lasting peace in the state by embracing tolerance and inclusiveness. Tinubu said leaders of the state
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has tasked Plateau State leaders to lay the foundation for lasting peace in the state by embracing tolerance and inclusiveness.
Tinubu said leaders of the state needed to examine themselves and prevent people from being recruited to provoke anger, conflict and killings.
He spoke during a meeting with a 32-member delegation from the state at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
The meeting, which lasted about three hours, was convened in fulfilment of the President’s promise during his visit to the state following the March 29 violence in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North Local Government Area. Scores of residents were killed during the incident.
A N2 billion relief support was consequently approved by the President for the victims.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang led the delegation that included All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda; Gbong Gwon Jos Da-Jacob Gyang, as well as former governors – Simon Lalong, Jonah Jang, Joshua Dariye and Fidelis Tapgun.
Emir of Wase Mohammed Haruna; Mishkaham Mwagavul,
Da -John Hirse; Chairman of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Dunka Gomwalk; former Military Governor Samuel Atukum; Speaker of the State House of Assembly Naanlong Gapyil Daniel; former Women Affairs Minister Pauline Tallen, and Chief of Air Staff J.D Wuyep were among those in attendance.
Tinubu, according to a statement yesterday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, told the Plateau leaders to strive to restore peace and hospitality, which the state had long been known for..
The President said:“No protocols, no hindrances, we are here to speak our minds and find a permanent solution to a recurring conflict and chaos. I have heard the leaders. Everybody here is seeking peace. How do we chart our path to that peace?
“Let us first of all accept one resolution – tolerance for every inhabitant. If people are being recruited to provoke anger, conflict and killings, it is you, the leaders, who should first of all examine yourselves
He further directed the delegation to revisit past government White Papers on security crises in the state and come up with implementable recommendations.
“We all must find a way to accommodate one another. We must stop the situation where people are recruited to instigate tribal conflict and killings. I am glad that I listened to the youth.
“As leaders, you must go back home, summon a leadership meeting among yourselves, take the gazette, review the previous recommendations and agree to implement the White Paper. Bring to my attention any knotty issue that may arise and bring up an implementable resolution,” Tinubu said.
He warned that enduring peace remained the only path to halting the humanitarian toll of the crisis.
“To stop creating orphans, widows and widowers, there must be an enduring peace in the state,” the President stated, while assuring of his administration’s commitment to infrastructure development in Plateau.
President endorsed a newly constituted peace committee comprising former governors of the state, charging them to work collectively towards lasting solutions.
He directed the committee to review the existing White Papers on past conflicts and harmonise recommendations for implementation.
“Call one another. Ignore the Governor’s Committee if you have to, or incorporate them. Take that white paper, go through it among yourselves and agree to implement it.
“If the ones you have chosen before now are not working, you have to mix and amend membership. Forget those committees you mentioned to me; if it’s not working, it’s not working. Consider this group as the committee until we find a lasting solution,” the President said.
He also urged the state government to identify and expose those instigating violence, stressing that such individuals must face the full wrath of the law.
The President further charged Governor Mutfwang to leverage the pool of experienced leaders across the state to foster harmony, insisting that justice, fairness, tolerance and inclusiveness must define governance.
In his remarks, Mutfwang thanked the President for his sustained intervention and expressed optimism about a new phase of unity in the state.
He said: “Our coming here shows that there is a renewed spirit on the plateau; that we want to be together. We are determined more than ever to close all our gaps, ensure that we rise above all the divides of religion and ethnicity, and build a state we can all be proud of, because we are one of the critical states in this country that contribute immensely to the economy.
‘A lot had been lost over the decades that we want to recover. We want to thank you for your leadership that has engendered this new spirit of unity.
“Having gathered this momentum, we want to assure you, by God’s grace, that we will build on it to tell a better story in the years to come.
‘’One of the things that we are determined to look at aggressively is how to turn conflict into profit by making sure that, under your leadership, we bring our people out of the shackles of poverty.
“By God’s grace, we know that you are with us, and we want to assure you that we are also with you. In your journey to salvage Nigeria, we are in this together. Thank you for having us over.”
The Gbong Gwon Jos commended the President’s efforts at restoring peace and called for additional security measures, including the deployment of more troops and the installation of CCTV cameras.
He advocated the creation of state police as a long-term solution to insecurity and urged the Federal Government to facilitate the return of internally displaced persons to their communities ahead of the rainy season.
The monarch also acknowledged federal appointments given to Plateau indigenes and called for more inclusion.
Other stakeholders at the meeting, including youths and religious leaders, listed indigeneship, religion, ethnicity and farmer-herder clashes as key drivers of the conflict in the state. They pledged renewed commitment to peace.
Representatives of Christian and Muslim youths affirmed their resolve to work together in support of the peace process.
