By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Maj.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, says the Nigerian Army has put measures in place to end the perennial crisis bedeviling Plateau.
Lagbaja said this on Wednesday when the Governor of Plateau, Mr Caleb Muftwang, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
He said the security challenge in Plateau was largely due to farmers-herders crisis and had been limited to three local governments of Riyom, Jos South and Barkin Ladi.
According to him, the recent crisis in Mangu was a cause for concern to the army, and President Bola Tinubu.
“Be rest assured that you have come to the right place to seek for solution on the security challenges.
“We have taken some measures and we believe those measures will yield the desired results quickly.
“We are still receiving reports from the field to see other areas of intervention that can bring lasting peace to the troubled local governments and even the entire Plateau.
“We will stop at nothing in providing the combat enablers and other interventions that are required to bring lasting peace to the state,” he said.
Lagbaja urged the governor to convene an expanded stakeholders meeting to let them ‘jaw-jaw’ rather than ‘war-war’.
He said it would be better to look at the possibility of creating a platform for stakeholders to express their grievances and proffer solutions from such discussion.
The COAS said that there was also the need to properly organise the state-controlled security outfit to avoid working at across purposes, in the overall interest of the state.
He advised the governor to consider the report of all previous Commissions of Inquiry on the crisis to see what issues had been addressed and those not addressed.
Lagbaja assured the governor that security agencies would go after all outlaws bearing illicit arms in the state.
“It is also important that in convocating the expanded stakeholders meeting to bring traditional rulers, clergymen and all critical opinion moulders in the society and the communities, so that they can talk and find solutions,” he said.
The COAS urged the governor to sensitize the citizens on the need to give out credible information that would help the military to bring peace and stability to the affected communities.
Earlier, Gov. Muftwang congratulated the army chief for the well deserved appointment and expressed confidence that the President did not a make mistake in appointing him.
He said that Nigerians were hoping that the Nigerian army under Lagbaja would meet their expectations and bring about lasting peace in the country.
“Plateau at the moment is at a very challenging junction and we know that we will not be able to get out of the woods without the adequate support and involvement of the armed forces.
“We want to thank all those who so far have been in that theater of crisis and the contributions they have made towards the resolution of the crisis, but we want to say it is not yet uhuru.
“Of recent, Plateau and particularly Mangu, has been in the news and I am glad to report that under the new GOC, we have begun to witness some return to peace and order.
“We want to trust that the chief of army staff will give them all the needed support to be able to bring an end to this unnecessary conflagration.
“Plateau as you all know, is known to be the home of peace and tourism and we are determined to ensure that that status is not lost.
“We want to ensure that plateau remains home to every Nigerian and a compelling destination where every Nigerian that wants to find a place of refuge and a place of rest will go,” he said.
Muftwang urged the Nigerian army and other security agencies to ensure that the sectarian crisis in the state was promptly brought to an end.
(NAN)
