TheCable

Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state, says a solution must be found to the crisis in the southern part of Kaduna state, maintaining that “everyone is aggrieved one way or the other”.

Speaking on Friday when he led a delegation of the National Peace Committee to the state, the elder statesman emphasised the need for peace.

The delegation held a closed door meeting with Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, before briefing journalists.

Abdulsalami disclosed that there were plans to meet with stakeholders in the region to find out the cause of the problem.

“We are here due to the recent happenings in southern Kaduna. And from here, we are going to meet with other stakeholders, religious leaders, the chiefs in the area and also visit the site where these problems are and discuss with the people,” he said.

“We will sit down and see what we think should be done. Then, we come back to the governor and also if necessary to the federal government… This crisis is not only limited to Kaduna, it is something that is engulfing the country.

“We want to make sure that peace reigns in Nigeria, to make sure that people know that we are together, we have to live in peace with each other and we have what it is to give and take.

“We are reaching a situation in the country where human life doesn’t mean anything to people and this is wrong.”

He appealed to the people to embrace peace, saying no religion preaches violence.

“There is no religion on earth or anywhere that preaches violence. So this is why we are here today,” he said.

“We thank the governor and his team for receiving us. One of the points that the governor drew our attention to is the way people take law into their hands and they go scot free. And this impunity must be checked. These are some of the issues we discussed.

“Everybody is aggrieved in one way or the other, so what we beg on people is to be patient, try as much as to forgive and to be each other’s keeper. We must live together, we must find solution to the problems to sit down and talk to ourselves because there is no problem that cannot be solved when you are talking to each other.”

Mathew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, who is from the southern part of Kaduna, said the meeting was to show solidarity with the people.

He said the committee would get first-hand information from the people of the state.

“I think the visit is more of a solidarity with the people of Kaduna state. We are here to hear for ourselves what exactly is happening and what we can do with the hope that we can find a way forward based on the situation,” he said.

“We are part of the delegation, I convened the peace committee and what we are doing now is to try  to bring about peace.  We are looking at how we can achieve peace and stability.

“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 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 stronger and committed to peace.”