By Correspondent in Lokoja.
Bishop Joshua Gwatana Zhiya of the Goshen Royal Covenant Church, Lokoja, has stressed the need for lasting peace to the lingering feud between the Bassa and Egbura peoples in Kogi State, on one hand and between the same tribes in Nasarawa state,in the interest of peace and developmnt of the two states.
The Bishop,who stated this on Thursday in Lokoja when he spoke with Journalists on the issue, noted the existing fragile peace among the two tribes concerned was not healthy.
He recalled that the crisis, which started many years ago, reached the peak in January 1999, during which many houses, business premises worth millions of naira were burnt and hundreds of lives lost.
He said one of the ways of putting an end to the feud would be for the Federal and Kogi State governments to enforce lasting peace in Bassa, Kogi and Toto Local Government Areas of Kogi and Nassarawa States.
Bishop Zhiya, who said the state government had been trying its best in ensuring peace in the areas, however, noted that more needed to be done to entrench permanent peace and the attendant positive development to both areas.
The cleric also urged the Federal and State governments to set up reconciliatory committee, made up of traditional, political and religious leaders, to bring both the feuding sides of Bassa and Egbura to a round table for peaceful talk.
He also called on the Federal government to give more support to the existing military formations at Oguma and Toto towns in the efforts to entrench permanent peace.
The Bishop, however, called on the Kogi State government to rehabilitate Odenyi-Oguma-Abejukolo road, to beef up security in the area.
Our Correspondent gathered that the major feud between the Bassas and Egbiras in Nasarawa state on one hand borders on a quarry site located at Ugar while the crisis between the Egburas and Bassas in Kogi State has to do with fishing pond.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.