After years of killings and destruction of properties occasioned by upheavals in Takum and Katsina-Ala local government councils of Taraba and Benue states, Fulani and Tiv ethnic groups came together for the first time yesterday, at the instance of the committee, to exchange pleasantries.
This was the resettlement committee assigned to sensitise the chiefdoms in the two states on peaceful coexistence and to appeal to the two ethnic groups to sheathe their swords to allow for healing and reconciliation.
The meeting, which took place in Takum, was observed to have also brought together security chiefs, traditional rulers, stakeholders from the two ethnic groups, council chairmen of Takum and Katsina-Ala among others.
In their various submissions, they agreed to eschew acts capable of dragging the two councils as well as the states backwards.
The warring parties, vowing to sheathe their swords, agreed that it was more important to go back to the drawing board and caution their people on the need to abide by the resolutions reached.
They reiterated their commitment to work with the committee to bring back persons who fled the communities as a result of the crises.
Unanimously accepting to give peace a chance, speakers from both the Tiv and Fulani extraction, urged the security operatives not to go to bed pending when those behind the crimes are made to account for their evil deeds.
In a joint resolution, both parties, the monarchs and the two council chairmen, agreed that “as security is a joint responsibility, there is a need to contribute to the local peace committee in the border villages to liaise with security agencies.”
They also agreed to desist from sending negative messages to their fellow brothers stressing that “all should cultivate the habit of giving vital information to security agencies to ease their operations.”
Elated by the development, both the Tiv and Fulani expressed the belief that if stakeholders at the meeting stand by their words, the much-desired peace will return to the states.
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