An international inter-faith religious delegation arrived Jos on Thursday to
explore opportunities at restoring peace to the state which has witnessed a lot
of ethno-religious crises in recent times.
The delegation, which is from the World Council of Churches (WCC)
and Royal Aal Al-bayt Institute of Peace, is made up of eminent Christian and
Muslim leaders who are working for the promotion of global peace.
Members of the delegation, during a courtesy call on Plateau Governor, Jonah
Jang, observed that the solution to the current ethno-religious crises facing Nigeria
could be found within.
The joint delegation of Christian and Muslim leaders.
The 20-man delegation, which was jointly led by the Secretary-General
of WCC, Rev Olav Tveit, and Prince Ghazibin
Mohammed of Jordan,
said its members were in the country to promote peaceful co-existence among
Nigerians and they had come to the country to “listen, so as to see where the
world could be of help”.
Mohammed said: “We are in Nigeria
to meet with the religious leaders about peaceful co-existence and tolerance.
We are here also to see if the international community can be of any help to
this (crisis).
“This is a joint international delegation, because we are jointly concerned
and jointly interested in Nigeria,
and we think what happens in Nigeria
is connected to what happens in other parts of the world between Christian and
Muslims.”
In his remarks, Tveit said: “The joint delegation of Christian and Muslim
leaders have come together to express common concern and common solidarity with
the people of Nigeria.
“We are also here to listen together and try to understand together what are
your challenges and your strength and also in different ways, bring all reflections
to those who can also be of help, either through advice or through other
processes.”
The delegation said it believed Nigeria
and Nigerians have the capacity to lead in providing the solution, and
called for concerted efforts to solve the problem.
Responding, Jang said security information had indicted some influential
individuals for exploiting religion to sponsor violence against the country for
personal interests.
“Security agencies should ensure that those arrested, as well as those
indicted in the crisis, must be made to face the full wrath of the law,” he
said.
The governor said the crisis had gone beyond Plateau and had spread all over
the Northern states.
He however lamented that reports of past committees on the Jos crisis were
not implemented by the Federal Government.
Jang urged the delegation to be neutral in its assessment and to interact
freely with the various religious and ethnic groups.
He said this would help Nigeria
to work towards peace and understanding.
The governor also faulted the reference to the indigene-settler dichotomy in
the Plateau crisis, saying the Nigerian Constitution was clear about the rights
of indigenes and citizens.
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