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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Rivers raises peace panel, to foster harmony
TO ensure that the current truce achieved between the warring factions in Rivers State is sustained, Governor Peter Odili yesterday announced plans to set up a special committee to reach out and assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration of people sincerely seeking peace.
And to forestall further armed confrontations, the state government will set up a judicial commission to look into old and unresolved traditional conflicts where they exist.
The essence, according to Odili, is to turn the state, once again, into a "secure oasis of peace."
In a statewide broadcast coming on the heels of the truce brokered between the two Rivers warlords - Dokubo Asari and Ateke Tom by President Olusegun Obasanjo last week - Odili said the state government would bear no grudge against anyone and urged all to "put this dark chapter behind once and for all."
The governor alluded to the recent armed conflicts in the state which culminated in the threat by Dokubo Asari directing all expatriates to leave the Niger-Delta region as his group was going to blow up oil installation starting from last Friday.
Dokubo's threat had generated insecurity and worldwide negative publicity about the state and the nation.
According to Odili, the activities of the militias which ended with the latest truce were dangerous not only because of what they did but because of the negative impression created of the state.
He explained that the negative media publicity accorded the crisis had threatened everything that his administration had achieved in the past five years, particularly in the area of wooing foreign investors to the state.
His words: "Negative media publicity threatens everything that we have achieved in the past five years and our future plans as a people and a state. It can indeed block further in-flow of private investment.
"It is dangerous to our long-term economic goals. We must therefore set aside differences of opinion and come together to resolve this scourge before it does any further damage?", he said.
Odili commended President Olusegun Obasanjo for his "unrelenting effort" in ensuring that peace is restored to Rivers State.
"No sacrifice that had been made or to be made in this respect would be considered too high since peace has no price," he added.
The governor noted that violence was not solution to achieving development of the state.
He reminded the people that only in an atmosphere of peace can increase private investment flow into the state, adding that violence was an option that would only make the state poorer in the long run.
He affirmed that the government's earlier offer of amnesty to all who voluntarily give up their arms and renounce violence as a means of pursuing their economic or political objectives still stood and would be enforced vigorously.
"The earlier pledge to rehabilitate and reintegrate those who renounced violence and other anti-social behaviours still stands and this would be vigorously pursued," he said.
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