The Elders Council of the Plateau All Progressives Congress, APC, has appealed to the Federal Government to redeem its pledge of N10 billion made to Plateau for the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.
The Chairman of the council, C Joseph Din, who was represented by Elder Pam Gyang, said this while briefing newsmen on Friday in Jos.
He said that the pledge was also meant for reconciliation processes.
Mr Din appealed to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the National Emergency Management Agency to hasten the process of presentation of relief materials to displaced persons.
The chairman said that the gesture would alleviate and ease the suffering of the affected victims and the communities.
He enjoined Gov. Simon Lalong’s government to revisit and dust its transition committee report, so as to identify citizens of Plateau that were hitherto trained abroad by the last administration on security.
Mr Din said that the citizens, who were trained on security and intelligence gathering, be reabsorbed into the Operation Rainbow to complement the recently trained 3,000.
“We appreciate the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for taking out time to visit Plateau to ascertain the extent of damages done.
“We thank him for holding discussions with the people of Plateau on the ways to foster peaceful and harmonious coexistence in the state,” he said.
The chairman called on all its citizens, including politicians, to refrain from influencing and encouraging citizens to resort to self-help.
He said if encouraged, self-help would allow for proliferation of arms in our society with the attendant negative consequences in the near future.
Mr Din called on the security agencies to arrest and present the perpetrators of the heinous acts for immediate prosecution so that justice will be served to all who are affected.
The chairman further called on the people of Plateau to eschew bitterness and embrace peace, dialogue, reconciliation and forgiveness which is divine.
“We join all well-meaning citizens to commiserate with the families of the deceased who lost their lives in an unprovoked destruction of lives and properties of the good people of Plateau,” he said.
NAN
