The Senator representing Plateau North Senatorial District, Gyang Pwajok has called on the people of the zone not to communalize criminal activities, rather, they should individualize it, by fishing out perpetrators without any form of bias.
He made the call on Wednesday, at the NUJ Secretariat in Jos, while commissioning a Conference Hall he renovated and furnished.
According to him, “I will always keep emphasizing that peace has to do with the right relationships, how we maintain right relationships within our familya and immediate neighbourhood is what will determine the kind of peace we enjoy in our society and we look forward to such sustainable peace.
He expressed joy that some people are beginning to take actions, by treating their neighbours right. So that at the end when there are issues of theft, “We do not communalize this theft; we individualize it, and identify those behind it, so that they can be apprehended.
Maintaining that, “Rather than use concepts like Fulani/Berom, Muslim/Christian we shoullld be more individualistic, because we have come to appreciate one fact that, when somebody goes out to steal, he is not stealing on behalf of a religion or his ethnic group, and as a result when people are killed, or when there is retaliation for that theft, it should not be done in a communal manner.
“There must be an attempt to fish out some of those tendencies that have occurred. That means in the past that was what we were doing and that is why we call a thief a thief, we don’t call him by any other name, whether he comes from any community. So cattle rustling, destruction of farmlands and other things generated the ill wind that we are seeing as conflict, are the issues that we have tried to address.
Asserting that, “And at one point we had even said that, whether we like it or not, there will be cattle grazing and there will be farming, it was there before we were living in peace, it would continue to be, so that we will continue to realize that if we kill ourselves completely, the cattle and the land will still interact.
“If there is anything that we feel very passionate about, is that we owe it to the memory of all those who have died, that we work towards restoring peace. There’s nothing better than it as far as this zone is concerned.
Stressing that, “And we are thankful to God that when the last wave of declaration of the State of emergency took place, we were out of it. We want to thank God because we arebeginning to witness peace, so that we can also pray that there should be peace in other areas in the country.
“We are praying that those conflict areas will see it in their hearts and think that enough is enough and Nigeria must move forward.
Commending journalists in their effort towards peace building, he said, “I want to thank journalists on the Plateau for refocusing their attention on the area of peace. we are trying our very best to see whether we can get back to what it was.
In his earlier remarks, Chairman of the Council, Katdapba Gobum, appreciated the Lawmaker’s effort, and urged him to continue the good work he is doing in his constituency.
He further commended the Senator’s peace initiatives, which is yielding result, as relative peace is beginning to return to crisis prone areas in the zone.
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