Soludo Sets Up A Truth, Justice & Peace Committee To Ensure Tranquility

Posted on April 7, 2022

Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo, Anambra State Governor, has officially set the truth, justice and peace committee as part of the steps the government is adopting towards building and restoring peace and tranquillity to Anambra State. 

Nigeria is facing a historic security challenge, with the character and breadth of the conflicts differing in several parts of the country. In the Southeast of Nigeria, there is a mixture of separatist agitations with crass criminality. Despite the efforts by law enforcement agencies and enormous human and financial resources expended in the bid to contain the conflicts, including the banning/criminalizing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the insurgency (kidnapping, arson, brutal murder of innocent persons, etc) continues to escalate with humongous toll in lives, livelihoods and properties lost daily.

Following the arrest and detention of the leader of IPOB, the organization had, on August 9, 2021 issued a Sit-at-Home order every Monday throughout the Southeast. The brutal enforcement of the order has caused numerous deaths and incalculable damage to the economy of the Southeast. Despite the repeated announcements by IPOB leadership of the cancellation of the Monday Sit-at-Home order, there is continued vicious enforcement by disparate criminal gangs. Currently, every criminal gang claims to be freedom fighters.  In addition to the Monday Sit at Home and its colossal costs, the region is daily experiencing unrelenting doses of kidnapping, killing of innocent persons, banditry, arson, etc. It is estimated that so far more than 150 police and other security personnel as well as an unknown number of innocent persons and criminals have been killed in the raging conflict.

Anambra is a key state in the Southeast and Nigeria and has suffered heavily from the unrelenting conflict. With the cross-border nature of the crisis, no sustainable solution in one state can happen without a comprehensive understanding of the regional and national dimensions. For example, recent arrests of some of the criminals showed that 85% of them are indigenes of one Southeast state and the remaining 15% from another Southeast state. Not one of them was an indigene of Anambra state. 

Anambra state, and indeed, the Southeast have huge potentials to leapfrog into an axis of prosperity. But the current crisis poses a near existential challenge which must be tackled with every means possible. A sickness accurately diagnosed is halfway to its cure. So far, there have been ad-hoc discussions about, and reactions to, the raging conflict. There has been no systematic platform or framework to engage the various stakeholders with a view to understanding the causes and dynamics of the conflict. Thousands (mostly innocent persons) have died, injured or dispossessed but these have been largely treated as mere statistics. How did we get here, and where do we go from here? It is our view that the current situation goes beyond a law enforcement problem. To get to the root of the problem and craft a comprehensive and credible roadmap to the future, we have decided to constitute a “TRUTH, JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMITTEE”.

According to a statement signed by Prof. Solo Osita Chukwulobelu, Secretary to the State Government, the members of the Committee are as follows:

1. Professor Chidi Odinkalu-Chairman

2. HE Amb. Bianca Ojukwu-Member / Secretary

3. Dr. Joe Nwaorgu

4. Dr. Udenta Udenta – Member

5. Dr. Uju Agomoh — Member

6. Rev. Fr (Msgnr) Jerome Madueke

7. Canon Dr. Okechukwu C. Obi-Okoye

8. Mr. Charles Oputa (Charly Boy)

9. Dr. John Otu

10. Mr. Danger of Glory

11. Ms Onyeka Onwenu

12. Dr. Joe Abah

13. Mr. Chukwuma Okpalaezeukwu

14. Mr. Sam Egwuatu

15. Prof. Joseph Ikechebelu

The Purpose/Terms of Reference of the Committee

The purpose of the Committee on Truth, Justice, and Peace is to seek a restorative justice approach for truth-telling or real facts, for the healing of the victims of the violence, accounting for responsibility and accountability of the actors, conditional mercy for the repentant perpetrators, restitution for certain losses and rehabilitation of the perpetrators, for the overall aim of restoration of peace and justice as well as the promotion of development in the State, and the region/Nigeria. Given the cross-border nature of the conflict, the focus goes beyond Anambra, and possibly covers the entire SouthEast.

Specifically, the Terms of Reference for the Committee are:

1. To identify the remote and immediate causes of the agitations, restiveness, violence, and armed struggle in the South East since 1999.

2. Document victims/circumstances of death, brutality and incarceration.

3. Identify stakeholders and groups who have played critical roles in the agitations and conflicts, their roles, capabilities and demands.

4. Address any other issue(s) that may be germane to unravelling the extent of the crisis and charting the roadmap for the future.

5. Make recommendations for sustainable peace and security in Anambra state/Southeast.

The Committee shall have a direct reporting line to the Governor or his designee, and will be provided with administrative support. The Committee shall be free to draw up the methodology to accomplish its assignment. Time Frame: The Committee shall conclude its work no later than 6 months from its inauguration, with its preliminary report due no later than 2 months after the sunset and the final report after 2 months of receiving feedback on the preliminary report from the government. The Committee shall be inaugurated on a date to be communicated to its members.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

BY DEBO ADESINA  The times are tough. It is therefore just appropriate that President... Continue
BY OLATUNJI OKE In a sector that has not always made space for women,... Continue
The Hon. Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has affirmed Federal Government’s commitment to gradually offset the debt owed Nigeria’s... Continue
Ms Oluremi Ebun-Phillips The Ikeja Special Offences Court has heard how the Economic and... Continue
President Bola Tinubu has joined the Christian faithful to commemorate Easter, a significant moment... Continue
MICHAEL AKINOLA  A 35-year old man, Tochukwu Onwuemene, has landed in trouble in Lagos... Continue
PIUS BABALEYE The DLK Event Centre on MKO Abiola Road in Abeokuta, Ogun State,... Continue
CHUKA UBAH  The leadership of the Southern Youth Foundation of Nigeria and the Orashi... Continue
BY TUNDE RAHMAN Today is President Bola Tinubu’s 72nd birthday. Instead of rolling out... Continue
MICHAEL AKINOLA      A 35-year old man, Joshua Ogabi, has been arrested and... Continue

UBA


Access Bank

Twitter

Sponsored