Francis Tayor
In his bid to promote sustainable peace among the various ethnic groups in the State, the initiator/sponsor of the annual Delta State Peace and Unity Football Tournament, High Chief. (Comrade). Sheriff Mulade, has called on Deltans to embrace and sustain the existing peace in order for government to fastrack development to rural areas.
Comrade Mulade gave the charge on Tuesday at Ogbe-ljoh Warri kingdom, headquarters of Warri South-West Local Government Area of the State, during A-Day peace building awareness creation campaign for peaceful coexistence in Warri Federal Constituency.
The peace building awareness campaign was sponsored and organized by the Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) in collaboration with Warri peace community support initiative, Delta State Civil Society Forum and Ogbe-ljoh Warri kingdom Youth Council.
Mulade, who is the lbesorimowei of Gbaramatu Kingdom stated that development can only spread to riverine communities when there is peace.
He reiterated that Ogbe-ljoh as one of the oldest Warri kingdom with peculiar history has been chosen as the center stage to kick start the peace building process, adding that there is the urgent need for the various Warri kingdoms to come together and discuss the way forward.
" We must continue to stand strong in a peaceful way so that our community's can develop.
" Lagos is fast developing today because there's peaceful coexistence amongst the various residents in the state.
" Once we sustain the existing peace, government would be interested to attend to our problems in terms of infrastructural development."
Mulade further stressed that peace can only exist in the presence of justice. Therefore, he called on the Federal and State governments to administer justice in Warri and its environs so as to attract both local and foreign investors to come and invest in the oil rich Delta State.
Delivering his lecture, the guest speaker, Prof. Andrew said peace cannot be achieved without knowing the root cause of conflict. He emphasize that most conflicts today in the society are inherited while others are caused by some community leaders who are conflict merchants that is good at making money in the name of crisis.
Prof. Andrew noted that peace can only be sustained by dialogue and not war. He stresed that in the quest for peace, both parties involved must pay a prize that is sacrifice, adding that peace is a collective effort by all stakeholders.
He reiterated that peace begins within and not outward. It is by choosing empathy over violence. " For our community's to have social, political and infrastructural development, there must be peaceful coexistence in our environment."
" We must be slow to anger and try all possible means to manage our temperament in order to avoid violence that will result to conflict."
Prof. Andrew concluded by charging all the participants at the meeting to be ambassadors of peace in their various communities.
Climax of the meeting was display of drama by youths from the community, thereby depicting the negative impacts of crisis and the need for peaceful coexistence in the society.
However, the event was graced by the Burutu Area Command represented by CSP. Odih Abigail, ACO Area Command Burutu, the DSS, representative of the Council Chairman, youth groups, civil society organizations and the various communities in Ogbe-ljoh Warri kingdom.
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