By Ebriku John Friday
The Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission recently held a South East Church Leaders Peace Meeting in Enugu to discuss the security challenges in the zone and Nigeria as a whole.
The Chief Convener of the prayer peace meeting, the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission Rev Yakubu Pam said that the meeting was convened to bring church leaders together to interact and recommend the way forward for peace in Nigeria.
Stakeholders comprising church leaders from the five states in the South East converged at Sylvia Hotel Enugu to discuss the security challenges of the zone and the need for them to embrace peace.
All the Chairmen of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN and some of the state secretaries of CAN in the five South East states attended the peace meeting alongside other Christian leaders in the zones, including high profile Bishops and members of the Proposed Peace Summit Committee.
At the end of the one day brain storming prayer peace Summit a communique was issued and signed by all key Christian leaders present at the meeting, led by the Chairman of the South East CAN, Bishop Goddy Okafor, chairmen of state Christian Association of Nigeria as well as the Senior Special Assistant to the Enugu State Governor on Religious matters , amongst others.
The Church Leaders in their communique stated that the quest for Igbo Presidency should be amplified through extensive consensus-buildiing with other tribes for it to be actualised.
They also stressed the need for the reforms of. the electoral process to enhance credibility and acceptability.
It was equally agreed by the Church Leaders that the perennial security challenges facing the country have created a gulf between the governed and the government which has led to despondency.
Stakeholders further affirmed that security and conflict resolution should be taught from primary to tertiary institutions to enable Nigerians imbibe the essence of peace.
It was stated that security should be beefed up and enhanced in the country,s borders to curtail the migration of criminal elements into the country.
The meeting also resolved that Nigerians should learn to tolerate one another and live in peace and harmony.
They maintained that in spite of the numerous challenges that have befuddled Nigeria, insecurity has posed the biggest problem to the citizenry mainly arising from herdsman farmers conflicts making Nigerians to live in perpetual fear , distrust and apathy towards the affairs of government.They added as one of the ways forward, government should abolish open – grazing without further delay.
Furthermore, the church leaders averred that there should be equality before the law regardless of race or creed especially in resolving conflicts involving farmers and herders.
The Church Leaders urged the Federal Government to ensure that the appointment to the key positions in the security agencies should be based on merit and equitable criteria, not on ethnic and religious considerations.
It was also emphasized that the people of South East should be given a fair consideration in the appointment of persons at the federal level.
The church leaders made Clarion call to the Federal Government to resuscitate all abandoned projects in the South East and ensure that those with low implementation should be completed.
