Governor Sule unfolds fresh initiatives to resolve Igibra, Bassa crisis

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As part of the efforts of his administration to bring lasting peace in Toto Local Government Area, particularly the lingering conflict between the Igbira and Bassa ethnic nationalities, Governor Abdullahi Sule has convened a stakeholders meeting where he made known fresh initiatives to resolve the crisis.

Governor Sule convened the meeting at the Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, on Tuesday.

The Governor informed participants at the meeting that the new initiative was the idea of the Commanding Officer of the 177 Guards Battalion Keffi, geared towards not only facilitating the return of the Bassa people forced to take refuge outside their ancestral homes but to also bring about lasting peace in the area.

He explained that while his administration undertakes the process of implementing the recommendations of the committee set up to resolve the lingering crisis, chaired by the Emir of Lafia, HRH Justice Sidi Muhammad Bage (rtd), the state government found it necessary to consider another report submitted by the CO of the 177 Guards Battalion in order to hasten the amicable resolution of the impasse.

“We set up a committee chaired by the Emir of Lafia to look at the issues of the Bassa relocation back home. The report was submitted to us. Some items of the report forming the recommendations were taken out, and we looked at them.

“I want to apologize to some of you who did not understand the delay in carrying out the implementation of the committee’s report. Such reports are not going to be implemented on the day of arrival. You need to continue with more consultation because you are looking for permanent peace. No matter what kind of recommendations are implemented, they make someone happy, and they make someone unhappy,” he stated.

Governor Sule said that as a leader, it behooves on him to make proper consultation and to ensure that everybody is carried along while implementing the recommendations contained in the reports submitted by the committee.

“We have received the reports. We are still going through them. We have gone through the first stage. The second stage is to bring it back to the Executive Council so that the Executive Council will make a decision even if we have to set up a committee that will do a white paper on it. We will do that. That is the process we are going through at the moment,” he said.

He, however, noted that while that process is ongoing, that would not stop his administration from considering other options that would fast track the return of the Bassa people home.

“But while we are going through that, it does not mean we will go to sleep. We will continue to find ways to resolve the issues. I want to use the opportunity at this moment to show great appreciation to our security agencies and also to specifically show great appreciation to the CO of 177 Guards Battalion, who took additional time to go back. Every time there are problems, they are the people that we ask to go there. Every time we keep phoning the CO of 177 and other security agencies, including the Commissioner of Police, to go back, there will be a time they may get tired,” he added.

The Governor commended the security agencies, specifically the CO of 177 Battalion for taking the initiative to go back to the troubled area and to come up with a report where they indicated the possibility relocating the Bassa back to their homes.

He lamented that the Bassa people are suffering the most because they are now living as IDPs even outside their homes.

The Governor said the purpose of the all-inclusive meeting was for the stakeholders to take a decision collectively that would ensure the Bassa people return home and that permanent peace is restored to the area.

“We are just trying to find a lasting peace. We don’t want to bring them home today and tomorrow we have another problem. That is why you have to make sure that everything is in place and everyone is carried along.

“I also want to apologize to some other people because when I invited everybody, it means I want everybody’s submission so that we can have a final solution to this matter. We are going to, by the grace of God, after this meeting, we are making a decision that is acceptable to all. It is not going to be a decision that is acceptable to one part of the local government and not acceptable to another part. That is not the kind of decision. We want a decision that is collectively acceptable,” he said.

Briefing journalists shortly after the meeting, Nasarawa State Commissioner of Police, Shehu Umar Nadada, said deliberations focused on the way forward.

“Looked into the crisis that is happening in Toto Local Government Area between the Igbira and Bassa people. After the committee submitted its report, His Excellency deemed it fit to call some critical stakeholders today to deliberate on the way forward.

During the deliberations, we discussed extensively how a wider consultation would be made and towards that a committee has already been appointed to go for a wider consultation before its findings would be implemented. The committee has two weeks to submit its report. Security is vital as far as this resettlement is concerned.

“The CO has already briefed the meeting on the kinetic and non kinetic approaches employed to ensure that peace and security reigns in Toto Local Government Area,” the CP said.

On his part the Ona of Toto, HRH Mohammed Umar Azaki (Ohinoyi Ogye) said the meeting reviewed what was said in the past and as the Commissioner of Police Shehu Nadada has said, a committee to carry out wider consultation had been setup to do the needful within two weeks.

“We will make sure that our brothers the Bassa come back home so that we will begin to live in joy again altogether,” he stated.

Also commenting, the Aguma Bassa, HRH Dr. David Tukura appreciated Governor Sule for initiating the meeting, which he described as timely, necessary, and relevant.

The Aguma Bassa lauded the outcome of the meeting, which set up a Bassa Resettlement Consultation Committee, which is all-inclusive with memberships drawn from the traditional institution, security agencies and political appointees of Toto Local Government Area.

“This is a very positive development. We now have something to deliver to our people, and we are asking everybody as the Governor had appealed. There should be forgiveness. This is not the time to fight. There is a time to fight and a time to make peace. This is the time to make peace.

“The home return of the Bassa people is eminent, is near and will happen by the grace of God, and we want to do it by including everybody that is a stakeholder. We asked for prayers for the Governor, prayers for the people of Toto Local Government area so that everything would be done peacefully and successfully,” he said.