23/05/2020
A PLAINTIVE CRY FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN SOUTHERN TARABA
Going by the alarming frequency at which disputes and communal clashes erupt in our dear state Taraba, I'm compelled to ask these questions: What is the essence of dispute? Why do we find pleasure in killing and destroying ourselves? What's our gain in seeing the blood of innocent people being shed like mere animals? Perhaps we enjoy seeing the youths, the supposed leaders of tomorrow being murdered and wasted in a cold blood.
Why do we find it difficult to embrace peace and unity? Maybe we enjoy division and conflict.
My dear people of Southern Taraba, it's high time we stopped the fights and killings already. Since we began the attacks and reprisals, what achievement can we point to as accruing from it? There is only one thing clashes do to us __ diminish us! Let's stop the hate and endless revenge missions. Tribalism, sectionalism, and violence are obstacles to our progress and advancement. We will keep retrogressing if we don't divorce them from our State.
Let's embrace peace and unity. We must come to the realization we need each other. The Tiv cannot say to the Jukun, we don't need you and the Jukun cannot say to the Tiv, we don't need you. Buddha once said, and I quote, "He who experiences the unity of life, sees his own self in all beings and all beings in his own self and looks at everything with an impartial eye". Let's start seeing each other with an impartial eye.
Are we not tired of running Helter skelter all in the name of crises? We're supposed to be farming during this season but, here we are, running and leaving our own homes all in the name of fight which has no dividends. There's no gain in it, It's rather destroying us and making us go backward instead of forward. I pray for peace in Southern Taraba. May we experience a lasting peace that will usher us into a phase of unprecedented development in all ramifications.
HRM QUEEN MARTHA OKAFOR
FACE OF UNITY TARABA
