The House of Representatives’ special ad-hoc committee investigating the various killings in Plateau State has vowed to uncover the root cause of the crisis that has impacted lives in the state.
Speaking when he led members of the committee on a visit to the former governor of the state, Joshua Dariye, at his residence in Abuja.
Chairman of the Committee, Wale Hammed, said the committee was working with stakeholders in the state to find ways of resolving the lingering crisis
He said the House, under the leadership of Speaker Abbas Tajuddeen, considers it necessary to find a solution to the crisis and decided to set up the special committee to look into what has been going on in Plateau State and environs.
He said, “The security situation, the killings, the violence in the state is worrisome, and the House has decided to look into it, listen to as many stakeholders as possible, and convene a special dialogue/security conference, which at the end of the day will be a platform for all concerned to come and openly ventilate their concerns.
“At the end, we hope to get the feelings of the people and know the root causes of the whole thing and be able to proffer a solution which will be submitted to the federal government under the able leadership of the president, commander in chief, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is equally concerned, as you know, about the situation there.
“Her Excellency, our dear First Lady, is also very concerned as the mother of the nation. I am aware of about two or three occasions that she had gone there physically to make monetary donations to cushion the effects of some of the occurrences there.
“So we have written a letter to stakeholders across the board as part of discharging this responsibility. We have placed adverts in newspapers calling for memoranda; we have done television adverts, we have done radio adverts, especially in those television and radio stations that are based in Plateau State.
“Quite a number of memoranda have been submitted, and we are sifting through to see what people have to say, so that when we start inviting people, we will know what to ask them.
“We are also doing private consultations. You have the honour of being the governor of that state in this democratic dispensation. I am aware of that, and we think that makes you a major stakeholder and even a field commander at this stage regarding whatever has been happening there.
“You will be able to give us a much deeper insight into what the feelings of the people are, what you think is leading to these killings. These are some of the reasons we believe we should pay you a courtesy call and listen to you both in terms of what you know, what you believe are the root causes, and what you think are the various ways to address them as a solution”.
In his remarks, the former governor, Joshua Dariye, commended the House of Representatives for its efforts in trying to address the lingering crises in Plateau State through extensive stakeholders’ engagements.
The former Governor, who gave a brief history of the crises, said the various crises witnessed in the past and at present have affected the state negatively, hence the need to address their root causes.
He said, “This topic is germane because it touches the life and the core existence of our people. But it’s a very long topic, spanning from my time till today. It has changed from the hitherto misunderstood between communities to a bigger dimension. We can’t define it.
“During my time, when it started in 2001, it was a boil-up from the military to the civilian. People were not able to express their minds. Just one day, somehow, somebody was crossing a prayer point somewhere, and it just erupted simultaneously. But we managed to control it.
“Then later on, it was about an appointment as the indigenes felt that one of them should be appointed, but instead, a non-indigene was appointed. That one also broke into another crisis.
“There were crises in Shendam, there was in Wase, and parts of Langtang South between the Tarok and the Fulani on land matters, and we tried to mediate. We created a Chiefdom and others to take care of peculiar interests. In other places, we did our best, but the crisis lingers.
“At the end of the day, Abuja at that time did not help matters. I did raise an alarm very strongly that there was a crisis on the Plateau.”
