Ray of hope in Southern Kaduna
The peace deal signed by eight communities in beleaguered Southern Kaduna recently is one of the cheering news to have come from the blood-soaked area as a result of incessant and senseless farmers/herders conflict over land. Going by claims and counter-claims by the people of Southern Kaduna and their Hausa/Fulani neighbours, thousands of lives have been lost in the last seven years since post-election violence in the region metamorphosed into ethnic and sectarian bloodbath in the guise of competition for green pastures.
The peace agreement brokered by Global Peace Foundation [GPF] Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, involved several districts in Jema’a Local Government area of Kaduna State. They include Dangoma, Goska, Ambam, Bakin Kogi, Unguwar Fari, Unguwar Baki and Gerti. Reports said, “They… agreed to form very close collaborations to attain pre-conflict relationship while encouraging all their critical stakeholders/ residents outside the chiefdoms to honour the development.”
The Foundation which negotiated the peace deal said it met separately with Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria [MACBAN], Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union [SOKAPU], Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN] and Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI. They also had meetings with heads of Fulani communities, the paramount ruler of the area and the district heads of Kaninkon chiefdom, youths of both Fulani and natives of the chiefdom, as well as women.
From all indications, these are the critical stakeholders in Southern Kaduna and their involvement in the deal shows that Global Peace Foundation did a thorough job. We commend this interventionist group and the leadership of the communities in Southern Kaduna who came to the roundtable to sign the peace agreement. Apparently, the deal was not forced upon the people, so we call on all parties to respect its terms and conditions as Southern Kaduna cannot afford to come under further rounds of unnecessary bloodshed in the name of struggle for land or in defence of ethnic or sectarian interests.
We call on other communities in Southern Kaduna to borrow a leaf from the peace agreement in these districts, as to jaw-jaw is more profitable than to war-war. There have been enough killings in Southern Kaduna to teach the people a lesson that avenging one act of violence leads to further revenge in an endless circle that does no one any good. In order to sustain this peace agreement, we call on stakeholders to give it wide publicity so as to rein in everyone in their domains in this quest for enduring peace and stability in Southern Kaduna.
Also, this breath of fresh air may not be sustained unless the people learn to isolate criminals whose activities could plunge these communities into fresh violence. Experience has shown that some of the communal violence was ignited as a result of face-offs between one or two persons of different ethnicities.
The rest of the people are dragged into ensuing bloodshed on the basis of sentiment.
We call on community leaders not to shield or line-up behind their wards who contravene the peace agreement, but rather report them to security agencies for justice. On their part, security agencies should act speedily when given tip-offs about criminal violation of peace in these communities. When security agencies demonstrate bias by reluctance to take steps against criminals, the people would be tempted to engage in self-help. Most communal violence in Nigeria sprouted out the inaction of security agencies. This should be avoided at all costs.
Furthermore, we appeal to leaders of socio-cultural and political organisations in Kaduna State to respect this agreement among these communities’ leaders. On many occasions politicians fan the embers of violence in rural communities in their bid to get at political opponents. Such acts are criminal and ungodly; hence we urge security agencies to deal ruthlessly with such political opportunists according to the letters of the law in order to avoid a relapse to the era of senseless violence.