First Lady ,Dame Patience Jonathan Donates To Internally DisplacedPersons In Benue.

According to vanguard ,Relief came the way of the thousands of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Benue State who had long been suffering from acute privation and grief in settlement camps across the state after being sacked from their ancestral homes in the protracted conflict between Benue farmers and  Fulani insurgents.

Mrs. Jonathan presented the truck loads of essential items on behalf of the Mission to the wife of the Benue State Governor, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam at the premises of the Benue State Government House.The displaced persons got succour few days ago from the African First Ladies’ Peace Mission, led by the First Lady of Nigeria and Chairperson of the Mission, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, who donated assorted relief materials to them in Makurdi, the state capital.

Mrs. Jonathan who decried the level of killings and destruction of property that trailed the Benue crisis, urged the parties to forgive each other and embrace peace so as to foster unity in their various communities. She implored all Nigerians to shun those instigating crisis and bloodbath in their various communities in order to safeguard the unity of the country.

Represented by Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Ms Olajumoke Akinjide, the First Lady said: “When we heard of the attacks in Benue, our heart went out to the women and children who were at the receiving end. We cannot continue to subject our people,  especially our children and women, to the harrowing pain and experience of living in camps instead of their homes as a result of conflicts and crisis.

”As a people, we must learn to live in peace with one another and by so doing learn to be our brothers keepers, irrespective of our tribal or religious differences because we do not have any other country but Nigerian. That is why we have come to extend our heart felt sympathy to the victims of the crisis and also donate this token to the victims to enable them pick up their lives again.

”I must also point out that until now we have been extending support to victims of crisis in sister African countries; this is, in fact, the first time the Mission is extending this type of gesture to any state in Nigeria. This indeed goes to show the extent of the concern the Mission has for the families and communities affected by the conflict,” Mrs Jonathan stated.

Receiving the materials on behalf of the State Government, Mrs Suswam who is the chair person of the Northern Governors Wives’ Forum, lauded the initiative of the Mission.She acknowledge the pivotal role African First Ladies have played in parts of the continent to ensure that peace returned to all troubled spots in the continent.

”The mother of our country who is a known peace ambassador has indeed led fellow wives of African leaders to champion the call for peace in all parts of the continent of Africa and this should be recognised with gratitude. This laudable initiative should be supported by each and everyone of us in our respective communities and states where we should all strive to ensure that peace reigned in our individual families.”

According to Mrs. Suswam: “No community or family can make progress or develop in the absence of peace; that is the more reason why we must as a matter of priority continue to preach peace, right from our various homes, especially in the face of the security challenge the entire world is facing and we all know that Nigeria is not an exception in that regard.”

The Governor’s wife who assured that the relief materials would get to all those for whom it was meant also called on public-spirited individuals and the well to do in the society to emulate the Mission by extending help to the needy and helpless in the society.

In a brief remark, Governor Gabriel Suswam, who also witnessed the exercise, extolled the role Nigerian women were playing to ensure that peace reigned in the country.

He assured that governments at all levels in the country were doing everything possible to enthrone an egalitarian society in Nigeria where everyone would live in peace and harmony with one another.

Source Vanguard