An address by Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, Sarkin Yakin Keffi, the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State on the occasion of the return of Bassa refugees to their homes in Toto local government area, Toto, Monday, July 3, 2000

   When I assumed office as executive governor of Nasarawa State thirteen months ago, I promised to urgently address the various ethnic problems in the state in order to restore peace among our various peoples.  I appealed to all warring ethnic groups to sheath their swords and embrace dialogue as a superior form of resolving their problems.  Without peace, no community , state or nation can make real progress.  It is our firm belief that if our people must be rescued from years of neglect and take their proper place in the social, economic and political development of our country, then we must all be at peace with one another and be our brothers’ keepers.  Our administration attaches great importance to peace and ethnic harmony as the plank for a meaningful development.  One of our first actions in government therefore was to plant the tree of peace in the hearts of our people in every part of the state.  In the past 13 months we have tirelessly watered this tree with our sweat and genuine commitment to ensure its unimpeded growth.

Mr. Vice President, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to savour fruits of the tree of peace.  For today, the Bassa people who have been living as refugees scattered in six states of the federation since 1998, begin the process of returning to their homeland here in Toto Local Government Area.  It is my singular honour and privilege to welcome you all most warmly to this truly unique occasion.  We are particularly delighted that the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is personally here to share this historic moment with us.  We heartily welcome him to this mother of all joyful occasions.  We cannot adequately express our immense gratitude to him- Sir, God bless you.

The presence of the vice-president here is an eloquent testimony to the interest of both the President of the Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and his administration in the resolution of this unfortunate ethnic crisis.  Chief Obasanjo has shown great personal interest and encouraged us not to allow any difficulties to deter us from achieving our objectives of resettling the refugees and resolving the inter-ethnic crisis.  Had the president withheld his personal support and the support of the federal government in this very unenviable task with which our administration had been saddled, the story would certainly be different.  The government and people of Nasarawa State salute Mr. President.

We thank the Almighty God for making this day and this ceremony possible without his guiding light and wisdom we would have laboured in vain.  We acknowledge the immense contributions of politicians, traditional rulers, the leaders and members of various ethnic associations and the ordinary men and women in our State to the resolution of this lingering crisis.  We thank them as well as all those who have worked tirelessly in one way or the other with the administration to pave the way for the return of our Bassa brothers and sisters home.

To our Bassa brothers and sisters returning to their ancestral home today, we say welcome.  You are no more refugees.  This day will truly stand out as one of the most memorable in the political history of our young state.  Today marks our collective resolve never again to resort to the use of arms to settle our disagreements.  It marks a turning point in our inter-ethnic relations in Nasarawa State.  The government and the people of Nasarawa State must be truly proud of this singular achievement.  Our success in this delicate assignment will be a beacon of hope to all parts of our country that are still convulsed in inter-and intra-ethnic conflicts.  The people in such areas must now borrow a leaf from the tree of peace in our state and seek to resolve their differences in a civilised manner.  In the human history of conflict resolution, never has so much been achieved so quickly.

The ethnic crisis between the Bassa and the Egbirra communities has bedeviled Toto local government area for about 26 years.  The area has not known peace for nearly a generation.  Intermittent fighting between the two tribes culminated in the unprecedented violence between November 14, 1997 and March 1998 in which over three thousand people were killed.  More than one hundred thousand Bassas were displaced and were forced to live as refugees scattered in at least six states of the federation.

This occasion is neither the place nor the time to dwell on the immediate or remote causes of the crisis that led to this monumental human tragedy.  However, it is necessary to publicly acknowledge the fact that past Plateau and Nasarawa State administrations took steps to resolve the differences between the two communities.  No fewer than five panels were set up to look into the remote and immediate causes of the crisis and recommend ways forward.  Each of those panels strongly recommended certain administrative and traditional changes in Toto and Umaisha districts in the local government area to correct some anomalies and remove the causes of communal friction.  Had all the parties concerned accepted those far- reaching recommendations and co-operated in their scrupulous implementation, the crisis of three years ago would have been avoided.  Sadly, the intransigence of the parties to the conflict sabotaged the intentions of the government.

A last ditch efforts, as it were, was made by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar military administration which set up what it called a Flash Points Committee  headed by Air Vice-Marshall Daggash to look into the crisis in 1988.  The committee visited Toto local government area.  On the strength of its field findings, the committee recommended that no election should be held in the local government area until the Bassa people were resettled.

That task was not undertaken before the baton was passed to us on May 29 last year.  We took up the challenge immediately.  As a government freely elected by the people, we could not ignore the plight of our own people.  If there is no peace in any part of the state, there can be no peace in the entire state.

We took immediate steps to begin the process of reconstructing the bridge of peace and unity in Toto local government area.  We constituted a reconciliation committee with members of the state council of chiefs and the security agencies serving as members.  The committee was charged with the urgent task of finding ways and means of restoring peace between the two communities so that the refugees can return home and rebuild their lives and their homes.  Members of the committee worked tirelessly and succeeded in bringing Bassa and Egbira leaders to the round table to talk peace.  In addition to the work of the committee, we continued the search of peace through meetings with the leaders of the two communities at different fora.  This ceremony is evidence that we have collectively succeeded in laying the foundation for the return of peace among the warring communities.  We acknowledge the efforts of the past administration because they constituted the foundation on which we have built the process of reconciliation in the last one year.

The government has received assurances from the Ohimege Panda, the traditional ruler of the Egbirra community and chairman of Toto traditional council, that his people will fully co-operate with the state government and will not disrupt the resettlement process.  We have no reasons to doubt his sincerity.  As a traditional ruler and the father of the people, we believe his word is his bond and we shall so hold him to it.

To ensure a smooth operation in the movement of the refugees, we created primary and secondary centres at appropriate locations where the people are gathered for their homebound journey.  We have three primary centres in Oyo State; two in Kwara States, five in Niger State, four in Kogi State; eight in the Federal Capital Territory and four in Nasarawa State.  The people are to move from these centres to two designated secondary centres in Gwagwalada for displaced persons coming from Oyo, Kwara, Kogi, Niger States and Federal Capital Territory and Nasarawa centre for the refugees resident in various parts of Nasarawa State itself.  They will then move from the two secondary centres home.

We expect all the refugees to begin  the movement back home today but obviously, for personal and other reasons, this may not be feasible.  We do expect some trickling of people over a long period.  Initial resettlement will be concentrated in four resettlement villages, namely, Toto, Ugya, Kanyefu and Gadabuke, for the security of the refugees.

None of us should entertain any illusions about the enormity of the work ahead of us if the process of reconciliation and resettlement is to be completed peacefully and successfully.  Today is the beginning of the process, not its completion.  The resettlement will take months, even years to complete.  It will be expensive.  We have conservatively estimated the entire process to cost well over two billion Naira.  Given our lean financial resources the state government cannot do much.  We urge  all patriotic Nigerians and foreigners alike to chip in their widow’s mite.  We appeal to the National Refugee Commission, the Nigerian Red Cross Society and other humanitarian agencies to come to the aid of our people.  Despite our inability to meet all the needs of the people, we promise that the administration will do everything it can to assist not only the Bassa but also some in Egburra community who have been affected in the crisis.  They too suffered and they too need our assistance.

The crisis between the two communities has inevitably retarded their own individual and collective social, economic and political development.  It has also affected other tribes in the area both  directly and indirectly because they have been sucked into the crisis itself.  Similarly, it has adversely affected the overall development of the State.  The poison of hatred has corroded the bonds of mutual trust among them.  Years of peaceful co-existence between them have been sacrificed on the altar of personal ambition.  Mindless violence has  brutalized the psyche of the people and thus created the unfortunate impression that might is right.  The task of re-orientating the psyche of the people is not going to be easy.  We must not shy away from it.

Toto local government was the most vibrant local government in the state.  Its people are hardworking and resourceful.  But the other local governments are now leaving it far behind.  It is the only local government in the state without an elected government.  It has no members in the state and national legislatures.  The area did not benefit from the recent creation of new districts and village areas either.  For more than three years, the government has undertaken no single development project in the entire Local Government Area.  Unless and until peace returns to the area, the situation could only get worse, not better.  It is, therefore, clear that the people themselves are the losers in this very unfortunate development.  This is reason enough for the two communities to pledge to themselves here and now that the seed of animosity will be allowed to fester no more for their own sake and the sake of the future generations of their people.

Ironically, humanity has always been forced to pay a high price for the folly of a few.  Whether as Bassa or Egbira, all of us in this state and indeed, other states of the federation, have had to pay this high price.  If the crisis remains unresolved and the plight of the refugees are ignored, none of us in this state would make any claims on good conscience.  The challenge before us today is the return of peace to the area.  We must not see to re-open old wounds  but to heal them.  It is not the ambition of this government to rule a divided state but a united one.  We are committed to a comprehensive development of the state.  We cannot achieve our objectives unless there is peace in every community in the state.  We must now collectives say to those who seek to mislead our people that enough is more than enough.  Let no one gloat over the suffering of another because the infliction of pain is not the mission of man.  The noble mission of man is, and must be, the happiness of others.  When we make others happy, we contribute to the quality of human life and enhance our own sense of compassion and humanity.  When we sacrifice the little we have so that others may also have a little, we become vital instruments in the hands of God.  When we promote peace and unity, we wield our strength together and forge the iron of brotherhood that becomes a bulwark against the storm of hatred and the wind of animosity.

All of us must continue the task of reconciling the two communities.  We must do nothing to whip up emotion.  As difficult as it must be for the Bassa people returning home to a home that is no  more, they must not allow themselves to dwell on the past.  The past is behind them.  They are beginning again.  History is full of cases of people like them who began again and through the indomitable human spirit, moved on to greater achievements.  The Egbira must accept them back as lost and found brothers and sisters.  They must extend to the returnees the hands of brotherhood and assist them to gather the shattered pieces of their lives as they make a new beginning.  They must be truly magnanimous for in their magnanimity lies the superiority of human compassion over hatred and violence.

As soon as peace returns to the area, the State Government will take steps to get the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct local Government and other elections in the area so that the people of Toto Local Government can participate fully in the democratic process and enjoy the fruits of democracy.  Government will also give special attention to the local government area in the provision of social services and amenities that had been withheld from them while the crisis lasted.  We will look into the traditional institution in the local government area and bring it to the appropriate level with what obtains in the other local governments in the State.  Our only condition for our intended course of action is peace, total peace in Toto local government area.