- I—A conflict averted
- II—Origins of the meeting at Bukuru
- III—Keynote address part 1: Jesus and Mohammed; Forgiveness
- IV—Keynote address part 2: Peace, the gold prize
- V—Other speakers; conclusion; afterward
Bukuru Youth Leader Presentations
Before the workshop, the organizers, hoping to avoid the kind of confusion we had at the previous event, had the youth identify the individuals they wanted to speak. Therefore, after I finished, they started giving the mic to these youth leaders. Each was given three minutes to speak. Most of these were “older youth,” at least in their thirties. [In Nigeria, people are generally considered youths until they marry.]
The first speaker was a Muslim Hausa man wearing a baseball cap; he appeared to be about 45. He started listing all the towns and villages in the Jos South Local government area, probably 25 of them. Apparently these were all affected by the crisis. When he started listing the villages in the Riyom Local Government, there was a groundswell of impatient sounds. The man finally concluded with a simple call to peace.
The second speaker was the Igbo representative. He was very articulate, stressing the importance of employment for the youth and warning youth not to do the dirty work for the politicians. He encouraged the youth to take their lives into their own hands and not allow anyone to manipulate them. He concluded by saying, “We must shed our swords and live.”
The next person to speak was the Commissioner for Youth and Sports. He encouraged the movement to make sure that it was more than just a “talk shop.” He promised that the state government would support all good initiatives to bring about peace. The people were polite to him but many people are not very happy with the government right now so he did not get an overwhelming vote of support.
The next speaker was the Fulani representative who, of course, was a Muslim. He stood up and shouted at the top of his voice, “Peace!” “Peace!” and then he said, “I have been hungry for this day for a long time.” He spoke in Hausa a bit and then said, “Enough is enough.” He spoke passionately and eloquently against violence. He said that his father died when he was young and that he was trained by a pastor. He then said, “However, today I cannot even to go his house to greet him.”
The Fulani man continued, “We are good people. We are good Christians and we are good Muslims. Why are we killing ourselves?” He encouraged them that “from this day there will be no more fighting. Let us give alms, not trouble.” This man spoke with such conviction and passion, he almost appeared to weep at times. I was very impressed with him. I would be happy to have him speak at any of these kinds of events.
Next, a Rev. Choji spoke and then a Muslim man. After him the Christian Yoruba representative spoke. His main statement was “Let us respect one another,” and he also said, “I want to say to the government, we are not after relief. We are after compensation. We want to rebuild our houses and our lives.”
A Muslim barrister named Ali spoke next. He spoke in Hausa but he talked a bit about justice.
Next, a Berom man spoke for only 62 seconds. After he finished, the MC said that this man had scored 100 percent on his SSE (standardized examination), something that is almost never done.
The next person to speak was a former national legislator from Gel. He rambled on and on but finally made about seven specific points including: 1) the need for jobs; 2) the youth need to engage the society and correct the wrong things in it; 3) the foreign media should report facts and not engage in inciting language; 4) religious leaders should stop saying inciting things; 5) we should do away with all of the DVD’s, text messages and documents that were floating around that were stirring up trouble; 6) we should stop provocative language; 7) we must stop breaking the law.
A Yoruba Muslim urged that all people should be allowed to return to their normal lives and homes, regardless of what part of the city they lived in. After this a Nigerian/American spoke for about five minutes. He said that his father had started the first Assemblies of God churches in the northern part of Nigeria. Unfortunately, when he was ten years old, his father was killed in the riots in Kano that eventually lead to the Nigerian civil war. He said that ever since he was ten years old, he had lived without a father. He did not want to see any other person ever have to experience that.
A man from Saudi Arabia who was allowed to speak. It turns out that he was actually a Hindu from India but had live in Saudi for the past 25 years. He was a businessman and focused on the importance of jobs and also getting along with people of other religions.
After the speeches, the chairman of the organization was introduced, Professor Danfulani, the director general of the Nigeria Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). He had had another engagement to attend that morning and came about an hour or so into the program. He spoke almost exclusively in Hausa but I could understand enough to be impressed. He said all of the right things. He condemned violence. He stressed the common roots of Christianity and Islam. He even called a man from the front row and said, “If this man goes to America and looks for a job, they will not ask him if he is a Berom or a Hausa. They will simply ask him is he qualified for the job.” He certainly had the words and spirit of a peacemaker.
Honoring the Peace Makers
That was the last speech but there was still one more part of the program. People started getting up and leaving. However, Pam stood up and pleaded with them to stay just a few more minutes. Gradually everybody sat back down.
Pam then basically repeated the story I told at the beginning of this journal about how a potential crisis was averted the previous week, but this time he spoke in Hausa. The fact that he repeated all of this to the primary actors in the drama gave me confidence that what he had told me was exactly as it had happened.
Pam then explained that the organization was providing special recognition for the two people who had helped to avert that serious crisis. He then pulled out our certificates and called Magaji Sule, the Muslim youth leader forward. Later, Ishaya Bot, the Christian leader came forward.
The chairman presented the certificates to them with a strong exhortation to be peace makers. He then had them raise their right hands and repeat after him phrase by phrase a spontaneous pledge that went something like this: “As a leader of the youth, I commit myself to be a peace maker. I will not allow the peace to be broken again. When I learn of trouble, I will go there and intervene. I will encourage others to be peace makers until peace is restored to Plateau. So help me God.” I shook hands with both of the recipients and then took pictures with them afterward.
One of the most moving moments of the whole event was when these two youth leaders came together and embraced each other enthusiastically, with big smiles on their faces. What a powerful statement that made to their followers! Both were very happy—genuinely happy for the recognition and for the hope of peace.
The crowd was happy as well. Before they had hardly received the certificates, people were already shouting, “Take care. You need to get those laminated.” The certificate read: “The Young Ambassadors for Community Peace And Inter-Faith Foundation presents the Young Ambassador Peace Award to Ishaya Bot for his exemplary leadership in helping to maintain peace in Bukuru During the Two Thousand and Ten Crisis.”
This was just the ideal way to conclude the meeting. We then had some final instructions about future meetings and other good things that were going to happen, like football matches and T-shirts to be given out identifying the wearers as peace makers. Then there was a closing prayer and the program was over.
As soon as the program was over, there was a surge toward the front. The little kids came and cleaned up all of the bottles of water and juice that was still on the tables. And there were several people who wanted to have their picture taken with me and some who wanted pictures taken with Katrina. It was a very warm and friendly atmosphere, totally devoid of any kind of animosity or conflict. I felt very good as I made my way out of the meeting.
Afterward
A couple of hours after I got home, I received a phone call from Yakubu Pam profusely thanking me for my part in the meeting. He was thrilled with the outcome. While we were eating supper, I got a phone call from Ahmed who was also very generous in his praise for my role. He said after the meeting and even after he left people were calling him and saying, “Who is that white man? We should have him come to all of our future meetings.” He said that many of the Muslims had commented how much they appreciated my story about Mohammed and he complemented me on the way the story was told.
At 8:57 PM that evening, I got this text from Pam: “To all our friends and Partners. The Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Inter-Faith Foundation is saying a BIG THANK U. Rev Pam.” I was very grateful that I could just be able to attend this historic meeting. To be able to be the main speaker was just more than I could have ever asked for.
I am encouraged. Certainly we are not going to solve all the problems that Bukuru and Jos experienced with one three hour meeting. However, this meeting was a very significant step in the right direction. It is my prayer that God will take our weak and imperfect efforts and multiply them like the loaves and fish and that we will see a return to the peace in Plateau that we used to enjoy.
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