By Augustine Okezie
The President of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Professor Margee Ensign, has isolated violence and impunity, as the twin issues critical to the restoration of peace in Nigeria.
Speaking during an interfaith workshop held on the AUN campus, she further maintained that. “These structural issues need to be mentioned and
Tackled’’ The workshop was a program of the Interfaith Mediation Center.
Dr. Ensign, who has written extensively on the Rwandan Genocide, said there was structural violence building up, with millions out of school, uneducated, and unemployed, and that there was structural impunity when the justice system does not hold people accountable for breaking the law.
“With all who have been killed in the North and other parts of the country with this recent violence, how many people have been charged with murder? To solve this problem requires a good and dedicated government which understands this and wants to solve it.” She added.
She further recalled how the American University of Nigeria, in partnership with the Adamawa Peacemakers Initiative (API), had rendered some humanitarian assistance to the neighboring communities, particularly relief support extended to internally displaced victims of violence in the northeast living in Mubi and Bole in Yola.
“It is very important that people begin to realize how serious this is,” she said, urging all to shun self-defeating thoughts when taking up the responsibility of others. “If we leave here thinking that the problem was caused by somebody else and you can’t solve them, then it is self-defeating.”
Lamido Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa was represented by the Dubin Adamawa, Alhaji Sa’ad Adamu Bawuro Musdafa; Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isa.
