Godwin Isenyo and Ifeanyi Onuba
Members of the National Peace
Committee led by its Chairman and a
former Head of State , Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd ), on
Friday had a closed- door meeting
with Kaduna State Governor, Malam
Nasir El - Rufai , over the killings in the
Southern part of the state.
The meeting was part of the efforts to
tackle the incessant killings in that
part of the state where hundreds of
lives had been lost and property
worth millions of naira destroyed .
Other eminent Nigerians , who were
also at the meeting, include the Sultan
of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ ad
Abubakar lll ; the Catholic Bishop of
Sokoto Diocese , Matthew Hassan
Kukah and Cardinal John Onaiyekan .
The NPC , Abdulsalami said , was on a
fact - finding mission to the state over
the disturbing killings and to look at
how to proffer a lasting solution to
the attacks .
Addressing newsmen shortly after the
meeting, the former Head of State
said the committee would meet other
stakeholders , religious leaders , local
chiefs in Southern Kaduna and as
well as visit the sites where the
attacks took place .
He said , “ There is no religion on
earth or anywhere that preaches
violence . So this is why we are here .
One of the points that the governor
drew our attention to is the way
people take law into their hands and
go scot free . And this impunity must
be checked . These are some of the
issues we discussed . ”
On his part , Kukah called on the state
government to do all it could to
restore peace in the state.
He said , “ I think what the people of
Kaduna State , including the
government should be doing now is to
look into how we can achieve peace
and development and I think that is
the reason we have democracy .
“ What is going on now is a very sad
phase in our history , but I believe
that we can get over it and we will get
over it and come out much stronger
and committed to peace. ”
Meanwhile , a Professor of Africana
Studies and History , Olufemi
Vaughan, on Wednesday , called on
the Federal Government to set up an
independent agency that would carry
out a detailed analysis of the causes of
the various religious crisis in the
country and recommend how best to
address them .
Vaughan, who is also a Senior Editor
of the Oxford Research Encyclopaedia
in African History, and co- editor of
the Routledge Handbook of
Contemporary Nigeria , said that while
the issue of religious crisis had been
going on for a long time in the
country particularly in the north , the
government had yet to address the
root causes of the problem .
He said , “ The issue of religious crisis
is a major problem in Nigeria and as
a country , we are not doing enough to
address this problem .
“ We need to look at the root causes of
this problem . There are lots of killings
going on. ”
