Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwabbo has declared that his administration was ready to dialogue with the religious sect, Boko Haram for the sake of peace in the country.
He made the revelation yesterday when some national officers of the People's Democratic Party visited him to sympathise with the state over the incessant attacks by the sect on north-eastern states.
National Organizing Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha led the team. Governor Dankwabbo noted that it would be imperative to dialogue to guarantee peace and development of the state and the zone.
‘’A lot of lives were lost which are irreplaceable, property were destroyed and many more challenges. I want to thank you on behalf of the good people of Gombe state for the concern and to assure our party, the PDP, that we will do everything possible to shun violence; we would do everything possible to tolerate dialogue and call on whoever is ready to dialogue with us in line with the principle of PDP, to bridge the gap of misunderstanding, so that there would be peace, there will be progress and there will be development.
I also want to assure you, that we have taken measures to ensure that some of the victims that lost their property, we have taken measures to support them, but those who lost their lives, it is most unfortunate, lives are irreplaceable. But those who lost their property we have taken some remedial actions to ensure that they didn’t lose, completely’’.
In his remarks, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima warned that the entire north would become inhabitable in the next five years, if nothing was done urgently to stem the menace of Boko Haram.
‘’For now, we have to do it in our enlightened self interest, because nobody would stay in northern Nigeria; believe me in the next five years! Believe me, nobody!! None of us here is prepared to. Somebody was telling me that he went to greet the Sultan of Sokoto, when he came out the areas boys came and knocked on his car and were asking for money. If you refuse to give them, they will scratch your car.
Another friend was telling me that his wife and driver were driving in his Prado jeep in Kano. Some boys came and broke the windscreen and said,’’ that you bastards, you are enjoying the comfort of an air conditioned car and we are suffering!’’So, the bottom line is poverty".
National Organizing Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, who led the team to the two states equally restated the call for dialogue with the sect, to find lasting solution to the violence threatening peace in the north.
‘’We believe security is everybody’s concern; without it, there will be no meaningful development, investors will never be encouraged to come and put in their fund and the unemployment trend will then persist, with its associated crime. So, we ask people of goodwill to come together and dialogue. Even during wars at the end of it all, people must come round and discuss and we believe that’s the only way out.
The PDP as a party condemns in totality, violence and terrorism and call on all those, whose responsibility it is, to take all steps necessary to bring this to an end. We believe enough is enough. We have been saying that Nigeria deserves to be among the top twenty countries, by the year 2020 and this would be a mere dream, as long as peace isn’t with us.’’
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