By EZEKIEL DONTINNA
HIS Royal Highness, the Emir of Wase and Chairman, Jah’amatu Nasir Islam (JNI), Plateau State, Alhaji (Dr) Mohammadu Sambo Haruna, has blamed the continuous societal challenges currently faced to lack of good and committed parenting.
He stated this recently, while in an interview with journalists shortly after a Muslims and Christians Consultative Meeting with the theme: “Understanding, Peace, Unity and Development” organised by Area Christians and Indigenous Pastors Association (ACIPA) and HRH (Dr) Muhammadu Sambo Haruna, held at Jos Central Mosque.
The royal father said, “Honestly, one of the major societal challenges we are currently facing is lack of good parenting. We are shying away from our responsibilities as parents and leaders and there is a need for us to go back and really address this problem.
“This is because they need our guidance, they need our hands and we as leaders and parents have really not done enough and need to go back to the way we were brought up by our parents. It will go a long way in addressing or reducing this menace.
“My question to Plateau people is; what have we achieved in all the destruction that have been taking place in the past over 20 years? As far as I am concerned as a leader of the Muslims, there is none. So, my appeal is, anything that has no gain, there is no point doing it”, he advised.
The JNI Chairman who is also the Plateau State Patron of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), encouraged citizens to see themselves as one and come together in a round table to understand each other because their thinking and ideologies could never be the same. “Plateau is not the only state that has multi religious citizens.
“You begin to ask yourselves why this is not happening in other states, but only Plateau? I think we need to wake up and understand each other and call for not just partial peace, but definite peace!”, the royal father admonished.
Dr. Haruna commended ACIPA for extending hand of friendship to Muslims on the Plateau because they have done what no organisation has done to them by trying to get to understand what their issues were. And he promised that they were ready to emulate what they have done.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Arewa Christians and Indigenous Pastors Association (ACIPA), Rev. Dr. Luke Shehu, called on journalists to report the Mangu, Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi LGAs attacks as an act of terrorism and banditry and not as portrayed in some quarters as Christians/Muslims clashes.
