By Bakwo Jibrin Godwin.
Ambassador Anthony Ogah, the founder of Tony Ogah Peace Foundation, a peace advocacy cum charitable non-governmental organization (NGO) has called on Kogi political leaders to put their swords into its scabbard, embrace dialogue and peace and work synergistically for the development and progress of Kogi state.
He made the call while reacting to the death of some students of Kogi State Polytechnic in a clash that erupted during a Pro-Dino protest in Lokoja today.
As often defined; Peace is a known occurrence of harmony bridled by nonviolence, conflict behaviors and the liberty from fear of violence. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility and retribution, peace also suggests sincere attempts at reconciliation, the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the establishment of equality, and a working political order that serves the true interests of all.
In his statement; “this is the right time we de-emphasize our egocentric and individual interests and patriotically place the interests of the state above all and work in a more united form, for the overall interests, progress and development of Kogi State”.
Speaking further he said “I call on all of us, especially the political leaders whose onus of development majorly lies with to rise up to this challenge of ensuring we take our rightful position in the comity of developed states, hence posterity will hold us accountable and responsible for our failure to make Kogi state more developed and inhabitable than we met it”
The contribution of dialogue in entrenching peace and harmony in our state should not be underrated. As this plays a gargantuan role in facilitating unity, strengthening peace, sustain trust among our leaders, preventing faceoff.
Cumbersome political difficulties and enmity, just like what we are witnessing in our state, cannot be solved through one off dialogue events, but through a sustainable and continuous process. We should be more concerned about working towards cultivating a political culture that resorts to dialogue as the first response to rising tensions and misunderstandings.
We should as a state encourage our leaders at all levels to treat each other with respect even when they disagree and to learn to sit down in a calm and thoughtful manner to discuss for the aims of proffering solutions to the many problems bedevilling our state.
Our traditional and religious leaders also has a pivotal role to play in entrenching peace and dialogue, using the existing early warning systems, which aid to bring leaders together and encourage them to embrace building blocks for peace. Blaming ourselves, resorting to threats and name calling rather than engaging in a productive political ventures will not bring peace, but only promote rancor and acrimony within the society.
Lastly, he prayed for the reposed of the souls of those that lost their lives at the expense of this political mishap.
