By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong has reminded citizens of the State of the need for peaceful coexistence saying with 53 ethnic groups, diversity should be a source of strength and everyone must learn how to stay in peace.

He acknowledged that repeated violence has damaged the collective psyche of the people but there must be room for forgiveness as such is a character of the strong who love God and are willing to walk in his ways.

He reiterated his commitment to return displaced persons to their ancestral homes and warned those plotting to takeover displaced person land to beware of the Anti-Land Grabbing Law which ensured that nobody claims the land of those who temporarily relocated from their ancestral lands due to insecurity.

Speaking on Monday, at the Garden of Peace and Forgiveness in Jos during the 2022 “Forgiveness Day” with the theme: Forgive the past to reconcile the future, organized by the State Government in collaboration with the Plateau Peace Building Agency, PPBA with support from Inter-Faith Mediation Centre, Kaduna, the Governor urged the political class to tow the Same of peace by anchoring their political messages on love, peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. As the race towards the 2023 election intensifies.

According to him, “It is with a deep sense of gratitude to God Almighty that I address you on another special day which we have set aside to drive the process of healing and reconciliation in our beloved State. Since we instituted the Forgiveness Day, our people have continued to embrace one another and work hard in putting the ugly events of the past behind them, thereby building a better society. Our goal since coming to office has been to restore our State to its solid foundations of peace, justice, equality, tolerance, and hospitality.

“There is no doubt that two decades of recurring violent conflicts in various parts of our State did unimaginable damage to our collective psyche and fractured age-long peaceful intra and inter-group coexistence which stunted our development and growth. This resulted in a deep-seated level of mutual distrust, suspicion, and hate that characterized social relations between people of different ethnoreligious groups across Plateau State.

“It is in a bid to mitigate this situation that we set aside this day as a symbolic effort of using forgiveness which is a very powerful tool in pulling down the walls of differences that we may have against one another. It is our firm belief that until and unless we learn to forgive, we may never really understand the blessings of God. I am personally convinced that “forgiveness” is not an attribute of the weak, but the very character of the strong who love God and are willing to walk in his ways.

“We are however not living under the illusion that absolute peace has returned to the State. We are particularly mindful of the fragile nature of peace in some parts of the State, particularly Bassa LGA. We are also concerned about the activities of crises merchants who from time to time carry out isolated attacks on soft targets in some parts of the State. Notwithstanding, we are not resting on our oars to ensure that we explore the pathways that will lead to a lasting solution to the lingering security challenges in Bassa before the expiration of the tenure of our administration.”

Earlier in his remark, the Director-General, Plateau Peace Building Agency,
Joseph Lengmang said, “Our history in the last 20 years, has been checkered with very ugly occurrences in the form of ethnoreligious and inter-communal conflicts and some cases terrorism. The enemies of our state both from within and without have not relented in pitching us against each other. The consequences in terms of the destruction of human lives and property and also the breakdown of hitherto healthy inter-communal relationships can only be better imagined.”

He disclosed the essence of the day is “to reflect and talk to ourselves in a very honest and open-minded fashion; identifying points of differences and also points of convergence, especially as they pertain to issues of peace and security in our state. … This year’s Forgiveness Day is intended to encourage us to set aside old grudges, move past frustrations and hurts as well as open a new chapter in our individual and collective journey towards peace and tranquility…”