From faraway Brazaville, Nigeria’s Ambassador to\u00a0the Republic\u00a0of Congo, Mrs.\u00a0Deborah\u00a0Iliya, is heart-broken at the bloodshed in her home state of Kaduna, where scores have died in the last few weeks.
\nIn a statement titled, A call for peace in Kaduna State, Mrs. Iliya is seeking a radical approach to peace
\nThe statement reads in full: “I join the Government and\u00a0good people\u00a0of\u00a0Kaduna State\u00a0(my state)\u00a0as it extends its heartfelt condolences\u00a0to the family and\u00a0good people of\u00a0Adara\u00a0Chiefdom over the abduction and killing of\u00a0the\u00a0paramount traditional ruler, Dr.\u00a0Maiwada\u00a0Galadima, the communal violence that occurred in\u00a0Kasuwan\u00a0Magani\u00a0as well as other parts of the state which claimed the lives of many dear residents.
\n“We have had more than enough destruction on lives, properties\u00a0and hate amongst each other\u00a0in different dimensions – ethnical, religious and political.\u00a0The abduction of the paramount traditional ruler of Adara Chiefs, Dr. Maiwada Galadima,\u00a0has no religious or ideological justification.
\n“The hasty and frequent recourse to bloodshed over disputes that could have been appeased peacefully without the loss of lives and property has become a common trend and is disheartening\u00a0at the very least \u2013 my heart bleeds.
\n“In this day and\u00a0age and at the level of dialogue that is possible between the differing communities\u00a0\u2013 killings\u00a0and attacks on innocent people, destruction of homes, markets and places\u00a0of worship is totally unacceptable Enough of this madness.
\n“At the front burner of the\u00a0agenda of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria –\u00a0His Excellency President Muhammadu\u00a0Buhari(GCFR)-\u00a0is\u00a0the provision of adequate security to the citizenry.
\n“This, Mr. President has since demonstrated by equipping the various security institutions of our security agencies,\u00a0so that they would always act more efficiently. His concerns speak in the\u00a0event of the spirited\u00a0and swift response of the State Governor, Nasir el Rufai,\u00a0and\u00a0the armed\u00a0forces, the police for\u00a0ensuring that peace, law and order were restored to the\u00a0state.
\n“Also,\u00a0the\u00a0summon for\u00a0an emergency meeting of the Heads of the Security Agencies in Kaduna State and the state Council of Chiefs\u00a0to discuss ways forward on the issues at hand,\u00a0is commendable.
\n“I do salute the effort of our security agencies at the same time appeal for more of their presence in the service to assisting communities in the very difficult task that they may have.
\n“It is highly applauded\u00a0of His Excellency, Mr President for visiting the state immediately to see things for himself.
\n“Under all religions, there can never be any ideological justification for crimes against groups of innocent human beings, and it is one of the cardinal\u00a0duties of\u00a0all\u00a0Muslims and Christians to condemn such outrages wherever and\u00a0by whomever they are committed.
\n\u201cIf your religion requires you to hate someone, you need a new religion.\u201d Hatred paralyses, confuses and darkens life.\u00a0We must choose to stick with love because \u201chate\u201d\u00a0is too much of a burden to bear.
\n“As a woman,\u00a0who believes that life is always sacrosanct and\u00a0who seeks peace at all times, I plead to those on social media platforms to stop the hate\u00a0and fake\u00a0speech communications that misguide,\u00a0promote violence,\u00a0put\u00a0suspicion and fear among the people of Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State and\u00a0the country in general.
\n“It is our collective\u00a0responsibility to synergise with\u00a0good leaders in the effort to fixing\u00a0our dream Nigeria.
\n“As a representative of the people, I call upon\u00a0our\u00a0youths to\u00a0shun violence.\u00a0Do not\u00a0offer to\u00a0waste your lives to violence -rather, activate your entrepreneurial spirit, actively\u00a0participate in the political process of Kaduna State and Nigeria\u00a0–\u00a0using democratic and nonviolent means\u00a0and your future is assured.
\n“Know however,\u00a0that no amount of money on earth is worth your life\u00a0– so do not waste it to violence.
\n“The Executive Governor\u2019s comments when he traced the\u00a0genesis of\u00a0ethno-religious\u00a0crises in Kaduna State, which occurred\u00a0first\u00a0in 1980 at Kasuwan Magani and stated that\u00a0–\u00a0\u201cit is time for a powerful coalition for peace to speak frankly and support actions against those who menace the right of our citizens to live in peace wherever they choose\u201d.\u00a0These are words\u00a0that any peace-loving person will subscribe to.
\n“It\u00a0is therefore\u00a0clear that the past is a central dimension of reconciliation in Kaduna.
\n“But reconciliation is essentially about the future: moving from a divided past towards a shared future for all\u00a0citizens in Kaduna State irrespective of their religious, gender,\u00a0tribaland cultural affiliations.
\n“And so it means\u00a0at its core, building relations for the future.\u00a0It appears obvious that\u00a0Kaduna State is at a crossroad facing two possible futures: indefinite violent conflict, or gradual progress towards sustainable peace.
\n“As such, a radical\u00a0new approach is needed in\u00a0Kaduna State\u00a0to build peace step-by-step.\u00a0We cannot wait for the next generation to make this change; this present generation must attempt a renewal of basic human values. If there is any hope, it is in the future generations, but not unless we institute major change on a state-wide scale in our present educational system.
\n“Whilst we acknowledge that we cannot create peace on paper, there\u2019s a\u00a0need to move beyond peace rhetoric, through a progressive, step-by-step process towards a political settlement which builds stability, confidence and legitimacy over time.
\n“The short-term objective should be a reduction in violence while the long-term objective should be to achieve a more inclusive peace process that is representative of, and endorsed by,\u00a0Kaduna State\u00a0and the country in general.
\n“So let us turn, each of us\u00a0to the wisdom in our\u00a0religions and traditions and in our communities, bringing together everything we know and everything our religious leaders and fore-parents have ever known about mediation, problem solving and peace-making.\u00a0It is in this sense that I believe all religions have essentially the same\u00a0teaching\u00a0that\u00a0is\u00a0of peace.
\n“Within this context, there are ways to live and respond,\u00a0in which no one is the loser.
\n“As we move toward restraint, let us all enter into long, deep, contemplative consideration of the current dilemmas that confront us. It is certain that we all want the same thing: that Southern Kaduna, Kaduna and Nigeria enjoy peace\u00a0–\u00a0that\u00a0our children will live, that the lives of\u00a0our loved ones will not end inKillings and Genocide.
\n“It is therefore imperative we give true leaders a chance to lead us, move our Nation forward\u00a0to actualising the labour of our heroes past.\u00a0Let\u2019s sing \u201cForward ever, backward never.\u201d
\n“God Bless Kaduna State and God Bless\u00a0the Federal Republic of\u00a0Nigeria.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From faraway Brazaville, Nigeria’s Ambassador to\u00a0the Republic\u00a0of Congo, Mrs.\u00a0Deborah\u00a0Iliya, is heart-broken at the bloodshed in her home state of Kaduna, where scores have died in the last few weeks. In a statement titled, A call for peace in Kaduna State, Mrs. Iliya is seeking a radical approach to peace The statement reads in full: “I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}