It was Richard M. Nixon, the 37th President of the United States of America, who said that “the greatest honor history can bestow is that of a peace maker”. Of course President Nixon clearly understood that there are many honors that the world can give, honor for academic success, honor for business success, honor for being an inventor and innovator, honor for being an industrialist, honor for being a successful politician and so on and so forth, but in Nixon’s estimation, the honor for being a peace maker trumped them all.
The Dalai Lama, many years later, would corroborate President Nixon more succinctly when he said, “the planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds”.
Today, I write to commend, to salute and to encourage Hon Barr. Lahteh Lah Loolo, Executive Chairman of Khana LGA, arguably Nigeria’s largest, on his great feat of submitting himself to the Almighty God to use him as an endearing instrument of peace in Khana LGA, the mother LGA of Ogoni land.
It is often that human beings are wired to magnify and feast on the negatives while ignoring, jettisoning and submerging the positives under the heap of negative energy. That, in my view, is the only reason the peace effort of Barr Loolo in Khana LGA is not elevated to the preeminent place it deserves in our collective narrative. But then, as we summon the courage to condemn what is bad, particularly in the conduct of public officers who preside over our affairs, we must equally have the good bearing and humility to commend what is good, and that is the philosophy of my piece.
Barr Loolo has consciously and systematically engineered many peace efforts in Khana LGA, but out of the plethora of what he has been able to do in this endeavor, two easily stand out for special mention.
The first had to do with the intervention of Barr Loolo in the communal clash between my own community of Kaani, and the adjoining community of Sogho. The two communities had been engaged in needless internecine bloodletting with concomitant destruction of property that made life unbearable and brutish, not only for indigenes of the two communities, but for others in Khana. The crisis made things extremely difficult for the largely agrarian population of the two communities and caused massive disruptions to normal community life.
But when Barr Loolo stepped in, the story changed. I have always said that it is not enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work for it. Barr Loolo worked assiduously for peace between Sogho and Kaani with patience, tact and forbearance. No matter the initial disillusionment with the joint peace committee he inaugurated, the chairman persevered, endured and continued to commit to the peace process which culminated to the peace walk to both communities that signaled the end of hostility. Last Saturday, I drove to Sogho to attend a funeral and felt very much at home as a Kaani man. Our own duty now is to continue to water the tree of peace that has been planted between the two communities and ensure that we do not relapse into hostility. We must build on the gains that have been made and strengthen the bond of our friendship communal understanding.
The second peace effort, which is on a much more grand, massive and impactful scale happened in the entire LGA. For reasons that I am yet to grasp, the whole of Khana was unfortunately turned into a killing field owing to what was dubbed “cult clashes” between rival cult gangs. The lives of our people were cut down, our mothers and fathers were running helter-skelter into bushes, the property and source of lively destroy in the barbaric orgy of violence. The happenings painted the image of our people in very bad light and the whole chaotic scenario was a reproach that made Khana laughing stock.
The Executive Chairman rolled up his sleeves and tackled the menace head on, going to the very root of it. Many have said a lot about the methodology of the amnesty the Chairman midwifed, questioning the sincerity of the boys who surrendered arms and ammunition and raising question whether the beneficiaries of the amnesty surrendered all the weapons in their arsenal, but I am more concerned about the utilitarian value of that effort.
Has there been peace in Khana post amnesty? Has the cruelty, beheadings and barbarity that walked on all four in the LGA abated? Are our people experiencing a renaissance of peace since then? Is there a renewed sense of security in the place? All these questions have their answers in the affirmative. The end of what the chairman did has justified the means, at least up to this moment. All well meaning persons from Khana must be happy and proud of his monumental efforts. The chairman, whatever the strictures against his methodology, has been able to stabilize the place and we can now heave a sigh of relief.
There is however more work to be done. Success in this regard will mean the continued stability of Khana LGA, and that is why the chairman must not rest on his oars. He must continue to design mechanisms to strengthen and sustain the peace throughout the period it will please God for him to preside over the good people of Khana LGA as Chairman so that he will entrench the legacy of peace for which posterity will build a monument for him on the tablets of the hearts of men and women. That is the best he can ask for.
Naturally taciturn, Barr Loolo is not one to blow his own trumplet, and so he has not deployed resources meant for development of our people into a media frenzy to publicize his efforts. He has raised his vibration, not the tone of his voice, and we, the Khana people, can feel it wherever we are. That speaks well for him too, and that is why people like us must add our voices to say, “Chairman, in the area of peace and security, you have done well”. And that is the best legacy on which all other successes can be sustained.
Christ himself, in the beatitude, during his sojourn on earth, has said in Mathew 5:9 “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God”. In that fashion , I say, blessed be this chairman, for his peace efforts will build for him inexhaustible goodwill by posterity.
