Some peace advocacy groups, including Conference of Plateau Peace Builders Network (CPPBN), Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative (GOPRI) and Conference of Southern Kaduna Peace Ambassadors (CSKPA), have commended the military special task force, Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) for the breakthrough in peace-building efforts in Plateau and Kaduna states.
They expressed happiness that at last peace and harmony which had eluded the two neighboring states due to desperate acts of some adversaries, have been restored.
The groups identified the deployment of both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches toward achieving the aims and objectives of OPSH by its Commander and General Officer Commanding, the 3 Division of the Nigerian Army, Jos, Major Gen. AE Abubarker as the major strategy that resulted in the feat recorded.
Releasing their assessment of progress in the peace efforts, the groups, in a joint statement on Saturday, insisted that they were very pleased with the progress made on security under the leadership of the Major Gen. Abubarker.
The statement was signed by CPPBN’s National President, Dr. Dung Bot, the Executive Director of GOPRI, Amb Melvin Ejeh, and the National Coordinator of CSKPA, Dr Mathew Kure, respectively.
They, however, called on all citizens of Plateau and Kaduna states to encourage and continue to support OPSH in delivering on its mandate even as they thanked the Commander for his steadfastness, patriotism, and successes achieved so far.
The groups commended the efforts of OPSH through Operation Hakorin Damisa IV for restoring peace, particularly to Mangu, Barkin Ladi, and Bokkos local government areas of Plateau State and the subsequent relocation of most of the IDPs to their ancestral homes, described the achievement as the fulfillment of the greatest wish of the residents.
“Having taken stock of the situation in Plateau and Kaduna states as peace advocacy groups, we wish to submit our findings encapsulated in this joint statement that Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) has made a significant breakthrough in peace-building efforts in the above-mentioned states.
“It is heartwarming that the leadership of OPSH has finally brought sanity by riding Plateau and Kaduna states free of the nation’s adversaries, who had hitherto killed and maimed innocent residents unprovoked besides the destruction of property worth several billions of naira.
“It gladdens our hearts to equally say that we discovered during our independent assessment that many of our brothers and sisters who were displaced from their ancestral homes, thus seeking refuge in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Mangu local government as a result of these unwarranted attacks, have since been relocated to their ancestral homes.
“These remarkable feats which are the first of its kind since the crises of different dimensions engulfed Plateau and Kaduna states, were made possible through the relentless efforts of OPSH and its Commander,” the groups said.
