The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, has inaugurated a reconciliation committee for the Kogi State chapter of the party.
The seven-man committee is chaired by retired General Idris Garba while the party’s Deputy National Secretary, Honourable Victor Giadom, is the secretary.
Its members are Mr Don Etiebet, Honourable Patricia Etteh, retired Group Captain Rufai Garba, Mr Umar Lawan Kareto, and retired Group Captain Joe Orji.
Speaking on Monday during the inauguration ceremony at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, Oyegun thanked members of the committee for agreeing to serve the party.
He said the party’s leadership wanted peace and settlement in its Kogi State chapter, noting that they were ready to give every possible opportunity for a settlement.
We Want Peace In Kogi State
In a statement issued by the party, Oyegun explained, “What triggered the events in Kogi was very tragic in their nature. So for us as a party, we are bending over backwards to say, ‘yes we understand your feelings’.
“We understand what you have been through, we understand the work that you have put in to get the APC elected; we understand also that God who disposes of power, brought somebody at the last minute to be the beneficiary of all the work and labour that everybody obviously has put in.
“So we are bending over backwards and we have assembled this very top-level team so that those on the ground there will see that we mean everything we say when we say ‘we want peace in Kogi state’. So your responsibility is a very great one.
“Fortunately, we had a fact-finding committee that has done a lot of the basic work and submitted a report which will be made available to the reconciliation committee. We know the principal parties in the various groups in Kogi; we know what their grievances are.
“So the issue now is really to call just the principal groups and say look, this has to stop, how do we go about it? The governor of course will be there to say his piece and give you all the assistance necessary to make your task successful.
“We want peace in Kogi state; events there have been very unusual but like I said, given the emotive nature of the event that led to it, we have decided to stretch the opportunities for reaching peace.”
In his response, General Garba thanked the party for selecting the committee members for the assignment.
He also assured the APC National Chairman that the committee would bring peace and settlement to the party in Kogi State.
“There is no doubt that it is an onerous task but we are committed people and I believe bringing our experiences to bear on the issue, we will be able to resolve the issue as directed by our great party.
“I want to assure the National Chairman that we will put in everything possible to succeed in the task given to us,” he said.
