Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on Friday said the security challenges bedeviling the country must be stopped at all cost.
He equally said for the fight against violence to be won in the country, “it will be because some of us have decided that we will work across board in order to be peace builders and ensure that our people leave in peace.”
Dogara disclosed this during the 2019 Nzem Berom Cultural Festival with the theme: “Celebrating the Berom Prowess in Science and Technology” held at the Rwang Pam Township Stadium Jos, the Plateau State Capital.
“What is confronting this nation, which is violence must be stopped at all cost.
“The Berom nation has had its own share of this very unfortunate tragedy that has now befallen our nation.
“And I said it severally, that we cannot afford to loose the fight against violence and still keep our civilization. It has never happened, it won’t happen and it will never happen.
The Speaker, who was the chairman of the occasion, maintained that, “Any nation that has lost the fight against violence, has always lost its civilization.
“Check the situation with the North-East where I come from, there are communities that you can’t find anything that is representative of the government; police stations are gone, roads, buildings, schools and hospitals have been destroyed; how long is it going to take us before we can even get to the position where we were until the violence break out? He asked.
“I want to charge us that if we must win this fight against violence, it will be because some of us have decided that we will work across board in order to be peace builders and ensure that our people leave in peace.
“Of course it’s going to be difficult as usual, but the challenge has always been fear and mistrust; but when you talk about courage you cannot begin to exercise courage, except fear is present, without fear, there is no caution relating to courage.
“So, it will take leadership that believes in the courage to seat down together, even with opponents/enemies, even with those you believe are killing you, in order to find the way out”, he maintained.
“I have reflected long on the issues relating to this violence in Nigeria, which is perhaps everywhere now, especially in Northern Nigeria; and I have discovered that most of it duels on error, and it is this error that serves as a fuel for this violence.
“For instance there is an error that an ethnic group can be wiped out, I know that it is absolutely impossible to talk about wiping an ethnic group, it will never happen except the God that created them say he is going to wipe them out, nobody will be able to achieve that”, he stressed.
He urged the Berom nation to be more united as a people, adding that doing so will bring stronger bond amongst them as a people.
In his address, Plateau State Chairman Traditional Council of chiefs and emirs, Gbong Gwom Jos, Da. Jacob Gyang Buba, said despite the permission by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police for the establishment of a Mobile Police Barrack in Gashish District in Barkin-Ladi LGA of, State were over 200 persons were killed between 23rd and 24 of June last year, nothing has been done up to date.
Buba noted that the Berom has the largest number of Internally Displaced Persons in the state, who don’t only need food to eat but need to be relocated to their ancestral homes.
The Paramount ruler further lamented that, the victims have not felt the impact of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and appeal to government to direct NEMA to come to the aid of the people.
According to him, “No amount of provocation from who-so-ever will make the Berom Nation not to hold Nzem Berom in subsequent years ahead.
“No Government has the right to redefine traditional boundaries in Plateau State”, he stressed.
In his remarks, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barr. Solomon Dalung, admonished Plateau people to join hands together to promote peaceful co-existence in the state.
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