Stakeholders from Miango community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau say forgiveness and trauma healing will end the incessant killings in the area.
The stakeholders comprising religious and community leaders as well as youths and women groups, stated this at a sensitisation meeting on curbing hate speech on Tuesday in Jos.
The meeting tagged: “2019 Training on Strengthening Interfaith Voices Against Hate Speech,’’ was organised by the Unique Centre for Peace building and Trauma Healing and Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Movement.
Alhaji Ida Waziri, the Hardo Fulani in Miango, called on the Iregwes and the Fulanis in the state, to forgive each other and live in peace.
According to him, only when the people put the past behind them and embrace each other will lasting peace return to the community.
He said: “The Iregwes and the Fulanis in Miango land must forgive each other and come back to live as one family.
“We must put the past behind us and forge ahead and that will lead to lasting peace in the community and Plateau in general.”
Sharing the same view with Waziri, Sunday Abdu, the National President of Iregwe Development Association, said forgiveness and trauma healing remain key in mutual coexistence.
According to him, the unforgiving spirit among inhabitants of the community had often led to reprisal attacks and endless killings.
He said: “Forgiveness is a huge medicine in mutual coexistence. If you don’t forgive your brother you cannot live together as a family.
“Once two people live together, the tendency of hurting each other is high, but forgiveness makes it easier for them to live in peace.
“So, people must forgive and forget the past and move on, and those who have been affected by the crisis in the past must also undergo trauma healing.”
Abdu commended the organisers of the meeting, saying it would provide opportunity for warring communities to come together and fashion out ways of curbing the killings in the area.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting was supported by the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.
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