Sustaining the peace initiatives between Benue, Nasarawa states

GOVERNOR Samuel Ortom of Benue State is a man of peace. And he believes in peaceful coexistence between the people of his state and their neighbours. He has consistently preached and worked towards achieving this since he came to office in 2015. It hasn’t been easy, but everyone knows that the governor is sincere in all he does to make the people of the state live and sleep with their two eyes closed. One of his favourite lines is, “without peace, there cannot be any meaningful development.” And this is true. Development takes place where the environment is conducive for investors to open up their vaults to invest.

And Governor Ortom has found an ally in this peace venture. He’s a brother, friend and colleague wrapped in one. He’s Mr Abdullahi Sule, the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State. Both governors have begun building a peace initiative project that will save citizens of the two states from continued bloodshed. Several meetings have already taken place.

Ortom had described Governor Sule of Nasarawa State as an apostle of peace. “I want to commend Governor Sule, my brother, for his concern for the peaceful coexistence between the two states. The relative peace we are enjoying today is attributable to him. He’s very upright,” the Benue State governor told the visiting Emir of Lafia delegation who came to pay condolence to the governor.

But it seems the chairman of Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Honourable Adamu Adi, is not conversant with these peace efforts.

One of the first steps towards achieving the peace bond was the Yelewata Security and Peace meeting. It was at the instance of the Nasarawa State governor. It held on 30 May. The two state governors attended the meeting with high powered delegations. And they all spoke frankly.

And what has been the problem? There have been persistent clashes between farmers and herdsmen along the Benue and Nasarawa states’ border communities. The spillover effects have caused untold hardships, leaving in its trail tears and blood. It has also continued to diminish the peasant farmers’ economic rights of self-sustenance.

Both communities have claimed rights to lands along the border lines. And this is what the Yelewata meeting sought to lay down the framework for peaceful resolution.

Governor Ortom told the gathering that fighting between the two states would only bring pains and poverty to their people, because as he puts it, the two states are a creation from the old Benue Plateau and are, therefore, brothers. And having lived together for decades, it will be to the benefit of the people of the two states to live harmoniously as “one people fighting poverty together,” for, as he added, “boundaries of states are meant for administrative conveniences. As such, we have no business with crises.”

Governor Sule admitted as much with his Benue State counterpart. Hear him: “states are created for development and not for hardships.” He stressed further that “our responsibility is to ensure peace.”

Sule conceded that though Nasarawa State had no law banning open grazing, he would warn herdsmen thus: “Don’t go close to the disputed areas. As long as you don’t go there, you have given me less pressure. You must also remember that Benue has a law against open grazing and it must be obeyed. If you must live in Benue, you must obey that law.”

What Sule wants is clear demarcating boundaries between the two states. As he puts it, “there’s a problem where the border starts.”

At the end of the Yelewata Security meeting, the two governors resolved, among other things, to intensify efforts for the demarcation of the boundaries between the two states to curtail incessant border crises. Deputy governors of the two states are to hasten the process of boundary demarcation in liaison with the National Boundary Commission (NBC) in order to address the lingering crisis involving various ethnic groups like Alago, Fulani and Tiv. The communique which was jointly signed by the two governors also agreed to constitute joint security committees at the local government areas of Guma in Benue, Obi, Keana and Doma in Nasarawa to checkmate criminal elements in the border communities.

Governor Ortom, who had dismissed insinuations that Livestock Guards from Benue State were crossing into Nasarawa State to arrest violators of the anti-open grazing law, however, warned the Livestock Guards to remain within the precinct of Benue borders. He said that anyone caught would be made to come under the full weight of the law. To give more bite to the peace efforts, border communities of both states have been encouraged to identify and report perpetrators and sponsors of criminal activities.

Of course, this has remained difficult since no one seems to volunteer such information.

As a follow up to the Yelewata meeting that recommended inter-state visits by traditional rulers, the Emir of Lafia, His Royal Highness, Honourable Justice Sidi Bage, Muhammed 1, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, led a high-power delegation of traditional rulers from Nasarawa State to Benue on 16 June. Though it was a condolence visit, it nevertheless opened a new vista for peace between the two brother states. This interaction sure gives hope that peace will return to the two states soon.

This is the kind of synergy we require from both ends, not a development where some officials of government peddle lies and market falsehoods against the genuine peace-building strides by Governor Ortom and his Nasarawa State counterpart.

It is, therefore, worrisome when Adi, whose local government borders Benue, begins to accuse Governor Ortom of sponsoring those who attack communities in Nasarawa State. It goes to defeat the very purpose of the peace-building initiatives the two state governors, with traditional leaders, have been building. In this wise, it’s pertinent to call on the Nasarawa State governor to call Alhaji Adi to order so as not to contaminate the genuine efforts in ensuring that peace returns to the two states.

Right now, what should be of concern is for everyone within the leadership and followership teams of both Benue and Nasarawa states to join hands with Governors Ortom and Sule to ensure that peace reigns in the two states. As Ortom puts it, “Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa states are one. Let nothing divide us. Let us cooperate with one another so that the peace initiative we have started will continue to benefit our people. This is the only way development can thrive here.”

• Ikyur is the Principal Special Assistant on Media to Benue State governor

 

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