The Nigerian Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has called on the Federal Government to set “up a truly national peace and reconciliation committee”.
The new committee, according to MURIC in a statement by its director, Ishaq Akintola will replace the Bishop Hasan Kukah National Peace Committee which “has gone moribund after losing credibility”.
MURIC said, “Recent events show that Nigeria needs a truly national peace and reconciliation committee. We need credible patriots to intervene in the Jukun/Tiv crisis, the herdsmen/farmers saga, the anti-Fulani hype, etc. The committee will consist of men and women from all walks of life and from the six geo-political zones of the country.
“The loud silence of the Kukah committee amidst several crises facing Nigeria has confirmed the fear that it has gone moribund. The Kukah committee lost credibility after Rev. Fr. Hasan Kukah himself launched unprovoked vitriolic attack on Nigerian Muslims a few months ago. The cacophony of angry responses which his attack elicited proved beyond any reasonable doubt that his committee is no longer acceptable to majority of Nigerians as a national peace committee.
“It is a well-known fact that nature hates vacuum. The Kukah committee said and did nothing about the agitation for secession in the South West region. It has also elected to stand akimbo on the ongoing anti-Fulani hype and the herdsmen/farmers crisis which has all the paraphanelia capable of dragging Nigeria to another civil war.
“The lacuna created by the self-induced voice mail status of the Kukah committee needs to be filled as quickly as possible. We therefore call on the Federal Government to immediately constitute a truly national peace and reconciliation committee to supplant the moribund Kukah committee.”
