Chairman of the Warri South Local Government Area, Dr Michael Tidi, has said that with the current situation in the country, there is no better time to preach peace than now.
The Warri South council boss made this statement in his office at the Warri South council secretariat when members of the Warri Multi Stakeholder Platform paid him a courtesy visit.
Tidi who was responding to the visit thanked the group for the visit and appealed to the group not to rest on their oars as they continue to preach peace across the three Warri council areas and the Niger Delta region.
While commending the group for their efforts towards peace building in Warri, Tidi assured them that the council will give them the needed support to carry out their peace building effort.
He said, “There is no better time for people to preach peace than now. I really want to commend the effort of the group for their sacrifice toward peace.
“This is what any leader that knows his onion should be doing at this time. We need peace at this particular time because if you look at the whole country today, any slight provocation will lead to crisis.
“The role of government is to protect life and property. So as a council we are going to support you in anyway that we can.”
Tidi, appealed to the chairmen of Warri South West and Warri North councils to also support the noble effort of the Warri Multi Stakeholder Platform.
Earlier Co-Chairman of the group, Dr Jeffrey Wilkie, said they were at the council to congratulate Tidi and also to invite him to a Leadership Summit being organized by the group in conjunction with the Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND).
He said the aim and objectives of the group is to preach peace across the three Warris and also quickly intervene where there seem to be crisis.
He explained that the leadership Submit, scheduled for September this year, is to chat a way forward for peace in the three Warri local government areas and beyond.
“We want you to be part of this leadership summit because it will make the three Warris live peacefully with one another. We must encourage peace between the three ethnic groups in Warri,” Dr Wilkie said.
Another member of the Warri Multi Stakeholder Platform, Chief Comrade Sheriff Mulade, on his part stressed on the importance of peace in any community.
Mulade said, “For some of us that the issues of peace has become part of our DNA, we can go to any length to propagate it. We are using this opportunity to officially invite you to the Stakeholders Summit coming up on September this year.”
The Network Co-ordinator, Partner 4 Peace, PIND, Chief Africas Lawal, commended the Warri South Council Chairman for keeping the existing peace in the council.
He said the group has seen leadership qualities in the Warri South council chairman, urging him to continue the good work.
“We have seen leadership qualities in you. We are very grateful for all you have been doing for us so far. You already know how PIND operates. We are not just preaching peace but we also respond to crisis early.
“We are very alert when it comes to early response in times of crisis. This group is an action oriented group. Over the years we have build capacity across the Niger Delta region,” Africas added.
