By Israel Joel
Plateau state Governor Simon Lalong on Sunday begged for forgiveness from all those who lost loved ones in the persistent crises that rocked the state for many years.
He made this known while speaking at an inter denominational church service to commemorate the Plateau day of forgiveness held at St Louis Catholic Church in Jos .
Lalong said “on behalf of the Government and people of Plateau State, I wish to again apologize to all people that suffered one loss or the other and ask for forgiveness. We are sorry.
The Governor also vowed to ensure that it brings to justice anyone who commits any crime particularly kidnapping that is a major threat to the people.
“I wish to reassure our citizens that Government is alive to its responsibility of protecting lives and properties and addressing criminality. ”
He further said “My administration has continued to accord peace and security the number one place in its agenda because peace is the foundation on which every other thing stands.”
“The Day of Forgiveness is part of the Plateau State Roadmap to Peace which was unveiled and launched by Mr. President in 2018 and implemented by the Plateau Peace Building Agency.”
” As a Government, we are very conscious of the fact that the process of restoring peace and confidence among the people cannot succeed without forgiveness and reconciliation.”
He further said that the Plateau Peace Agency has held over 87 multi-level dialogue sessions with conflict parties across 17 Local Governments of the State in order to promote the culture of Peace through forgiveness and reconciliation.
Lalong said he is happy that this has led to the signing of several Peace Agreements and Commitments to the pursuit of Peace agreement with various fighting communities in the last five years.
“In addition, we have carried out more than 40 outreaches to communities that had once fought each other to advocate and promote the agenda of Peace through forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Lalong thanked traditional, community and religious institutions that have worked tirelessly to foster mutual understanding and cooperation and also helped to build mutual confidence, trust and community resilience.
He said “Such partnership with both civil society and international non-governmental organizations has assisted in development of social cohesion, thereby breaking down the walls of prejudice and stereotypes that in the past fueled crises.
“While we are working hard to build a culture of peace anchored on forgiveness and reconciliation, I am deeply worried by the exploitation of the social media by crises merchants to rubbish our efforts and take back the hands of the clock. ”
“On this day therefore, we do not try to trivialize or gloss over the trauma, pain and agony that many people have undergone on account of the various crises that took lives and properties. Others are still bearing physical scars of their experiences.”” What this day rather emphasizes is how to make the best of the past ugly experiences and chart the way forward. If truly we want to move forward, then there is every need to encourage healing that makes us do things differently.”
