People from across Nigeria united Monday for a 10-day walk to celebrate peace and promote the rebuilding of a school that symbolises reconciliation.
The first of its kind peace walk commemorates the first anniversary of the Takum Peace Agreement, signed last year on November 28, which ended years of hatred, violence and death caused by a land dispute. The conflict destabilised communities, displaced families and caused starvation and death throughout the area.
“By the time the papers were signed, this crisis had already claimed dozens of lives,” said Bulus Ali, Nigeria Partner Contact for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.
“But since the Peace Agreement was enacted on November 28, 2006, the guns have been silent. Displaced persons have returned to their communities. Life is returning to normal.”
Participants gathered in Takum early Monday morning to begin the first full day of the walk. They will travel from church to church each of the ten days, stopping to preach messages of peace in each town in the evening and resting at churches along the way, according to the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.
In addition to churches, the route will include a stop at the government house where walkers will meet the Governor of Plateau State. Plateau State neighbors Benue and Taraba States which lie on Nigeria’s eastern coast.
“There is a lot of excitement about the potential of the Peace Walk to foment change,” said Ali. “Ethnic differences can either be a blessing or a curse. They are a curse when complete loyalty to the group is blind.
