Deputy governor wants people to let peace reign

Kaduna State Government has urged stakeholders in Southern Kaduna to change their rhetorics on the insecurity challenges bedevilling the area.

Mr Barnabas Bantex, the state Deputy Governor, made the appeal at a town hall meeting in Manchok, Kaura Local Government on the lingering crisis in the area.

Bantex said the stakeholders and government must work together to build confidence and engender peace among the people.

He said that the natives and Fulanis had lived peacefully in the area for centuries, as such recent crisis should not be used to severe the bond that existed between them for a long time.

“I want the people to always consider the path of peace in their dealings with one another and desist from taking the law into their hands," he said.

Prof. Solomon Captain, President, Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SUKAPU), alleged that the area was facing “existential threat.”

He said that the state and Federal Government should synergise to bring about peace and harmony in the area.

The SUKAPU president called for the setting up of camps to cater for those displaced by the crisis in Godogodo chiefdom.

Earlier, a cross section of participants including religious, traditional and opinion leaders, called for more security presence in the area to tackle persistent attacks by gunmen.

They said government must also punish those involved in formenting the crisis.

They noted that the reluctance to mete out penalties to perpetrators of similar acts in the past, had encouraged recurrence of the crisis.

The participants agreed that continuous dialogue was necessary to bring the crisis to an end.