President Bola Tinubu has sent a peace delegation to Plateau State, led by his Senior Special Assistant on Community Engagement for the North Central Zone, Dr. Abiodun Essiet, as part of renewed efforts to restore peace and deepen intercommunal harmony in the state.
During the two-day visit, Essiet met Christian clerics, Fulani Miyetti Allah leaders, and community stakeholders, which climaxed in a town hall engagement in Jos, the state capital. In a statement by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the dialogue had in attendance delegates from local government areas, traditional rulers, women groups, and youth leaders; it sought ways to consolidate community-based peace structures and ensure peaceful coexistence.
Essiet visited the Chairman of RCC in Barkin Ladi, Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo, where the role that faith-based leadership could play was discussed to help inspire unity, peacebuilding, and social development. She also spoke to widows within the community about the President’s message on ethnic reconciliation and governance for all.
The aide afterwards held a consultative meeting with Fulani leaders at Barkin Ladi to further open up communication and goodwill between herders and farmers. She also organized a workshop on the establishment of community peace structures across the 17 local government areas.
In a separate closed-door session, Essiet engaged representatives of the Irigwe community, Miyetti Allah, and the Youth Council of Bassa LGA. The meeting reviewed the work of a 17-member peace committee designed to strengthen dialogue, reconciliation, and coexistence between the groups.
Essiet reiterated the commitment of Tinubu to long-term stability in the North Central region,adding that the Community-Based Peace Structure remains a critical tool for grassroots unity and sustainable peace. One of the early successes recorded by the peace mission was the resolution of a conflict between Agha Farm owner David Toma in Gyel District, Jos South, and some herdsmen. The herdsmen had destroyed Toma’s farm on November 15, prompting him to seize two cows. After mediation, the Chairman of MACBAN in Bassa LGA, Alhaji Isah Yau, paid compensation of N500,000. Toma released the cows, while all parties signed an undertaking to maintain peace.
