We won’t relent until peace returns to North, says peace builders

 Okwe Obi, Abuja

Peace builders under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development (CNEPD), have vowed to do everything with their power to ensure that peace, love and tolerance, return to the Northern part of the country, which has been ravaged by banditry.

CNEPD National Coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni, in a statement, yesterday, also tackled a group which had opposed the sacking of the service chiefs, advising it to keep mum because it spoke from an ignorant position.

Goni argued that if the service chiefs were at their best, the likes of the Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum and the leadership of the National Assembly would not solicit the assistance of neighbouring countries to help Nigeria crush Boko Haram insurgents.

He said: “:Our attention has been drawn to a statement in the media and released by some faceless civil society organisations led by one unknown organization which goes by the name Campaign Against Impunity in reaction to our widely published statement earlier on the state of insecurity in the country.

“In the media report, one Mr. Shina Loremikan, who claimed not only to be National Coordinator of the faceless Campaign Against Impunity but also speaking on behalf of the unknown 16 coalition of civil society organisations, picked hole in our statement which had demanded the immediate sack of the current service chiefs following the worsening security situation in the country.

“In the writeup, the authors and their sponsors, obviously were not bold enough to disclose their true identity knowing that what they sold to the nation was an evil and failed attempt to repackage their pay masters for public acceptability following negative perception in many quarters about them occasioned by their glaring incompetence to tackle the nation’s security challenges.

“People all over the North and indeed the entire country are tired of the killings, the Northern Elders for Peace and development is not an exception.

“We wish to emphatically tell Mr Loremakan that sentiment are over as the issue is now everybody’s issue.

“The rich are also crying! We must all be genuinely involved in the peace process knowing that insecurity anywhere in the North is a threat to all of us.

“Anyone attempting to twist or mischievously misrepresent his remarks for political patronage or mileage is on a futile goose chase.

“As stakeholders in the northern peace process and resident of the North, we know what we are saying. Those living in Lagos should please, give us a chance since they know little or nothing about the area they are not familiar with.”