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Acting Ambassador of the United States of America to Nigeria, David Young has stated that to end the spate of killings caused by the activities of killer herdsmen, the country should have a stronger law enforcement response.
Young equally stated that there is the need to create opportunities, a good chance and hope for young persons in the country to stem the spate of violence.
The Acting Ambassador, in an interview with DAILY POST, in Jos, the Plateau state capital, added that Nigerians need to be peacemakers, insisting that, “we need to work for peace”.
He said, “I’m very much a student of Christianity and Islam, and I believe that all Christians and Muslims, we should leave together in peace, because our religion teach us that God is love, and calls us to love God and love our neighbour. For me, Muslims believe in submission to God’s will, so also Christians.
“So I believe the people of Plateau and all of us need to know the call of peace in our heart and we all need to work together as peacemakers to make a difference.
“So, I came to this wonderful Christian Church to share and fellowship with over 50 pastors and I will also go to the Central Mosque here in Jos, to share a prayer time and also dialogue with the Imams and Muslim believers.
“I believe that we all need to work together to break down the barriers that divide people here in Jos, in Nigeria and around the world”, he explained.
Young also said, “It’s a tragedy that some of the Chibok girls are still in captivity and there is one of the Dapchi girls still in captivity.
“It has been a terrible loss and terrible tragedy for all Nigerians, that these young girls have been victimized by evil men.
“All human life is sacred, and one of my most important point to share on behalf of the embassy, US Government and the American people, is that we share with Nigerians in believing that every human life is sacred.
“And whenever one person dies, whether they are Christians or Muslims, a farmer or herder, whether in Plateau, Benue, Zamfara or Borno; every time a person dies, when killed in violence, it’s a tragedy.
“And for us as human beings, either we are Muslims or Christians, we need to speak out against these kinds of tragedies to make sure they don’t happen again.”
“I have three points that that I talked about today in my speech with the pastors; one is that all people agree that there need to be stronger law enforcement response.
“We need to crack down on the impunity that allows terrible people to awful things and then run away; they are cowards. They come in with AK 47s, machetes, kill people, burn their homes and run away, that is awful, it’s evil.
“Government needs to crack down on them with law enforcement.
“I know the government is doing some good things and is trying very hard, we all need to try even harder. So, law enforcement is very important.
“The second thing is development. It’s very important, because we have to create opportunities, a good chance and hope for young people.
“Some of the men who get involved in this terrible groups, are men who didn’t have much hope as boys.
“Think about it, what goes into a person’s mind to make them turn to such evil ways, that they go around and kill people with machetes and guns and burn down their houses. How can you kill a child, a woman, a man just out of hatred? There must be something wrong with these people, and we need to try to help them when their young to change them to have a positive life, not a bad evil life.
“Thirdly, we all, I mean all of us need to be peacemakers. We need to work for peace as a call of our religions, the great faith of Christianity and Islam, show us the great faith of the world, that talk about loving the one God.
“We have our different traditions, but we are all called to love God, submit to him, to believe that he is loving, merciful, just. We need to, as the spirit of our faith, work for peace, because that is what our faith calls us to,” the Acting Ambassador stressed.
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