On Wednesday, March 16, 2022, a delegation of the Adamawa Peacemakers Initiative (AUN-API) visited Guyuk and Numan with a message of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. Led by President Margee Ensign, who chairs the body of eminent religious and community leaders working for peace and development, the group visited the monarchs of the two kingdoms and exchanged ideas and perspectives on how best to achieve sustainable peace and development in the communities which had experienced violence and conflict displacement.
In Guyuk, the AUN-API delegation was received by the ruler of the Kingdom, His Royal Highness Kuruhaye Disho Dan-Sanda II, Kwandi Nungurya, and in Numan by His Royal Highness Homun Dr. Daniel Ismail Shaga Hama Bachama.
It was a return visit by AUN-API to the two kingdoms. Last year, the Adamawa Peacemakers had honored the invitation of the monarchs to visit Guyuk on September 24 and Numan on November 2 on a fact-finding mission and to better understand how to bring peace and reconciliation to the communities.
The conflicts in the two communities, which are similar, are rooted in resource contestations as local farmers and itinerant herders constantly clash, sometimes violently. In part this has been caused by the impact of global warming and climate change on the environment, resulting in a depletion of cultivable land and water pools. They clash over the destruction of crops by cattle, grazing rights, and cattle rustling, and by a lack of accountability and justice administration in post-violence interventions.
The monarchs had explicitly requested the intervention of the Adamawa Peacemakers in the areas of peace advocacy, modernization of breeding methods, and sustenance support for farmers, as well as support in equipment and farm inputs, constructive engagement of youths, and a path to sustainable peace and development.
Having listened to all sides of the conflict, and after consultation with stakeholders, the Adamawa Peacemakers embarked on the peace and reconciliation mission to the two communities. In the delegation were top AUN-API members: the Catholic Bishop of Yola, the Most Reverend Dr. Stephen Dami Mamza; a former chairman of Yola South Local Government and prominent community leader, Alhaji Usman Arabo; Bishop Ranson Stephen of the Horn of Hope Vision for Peace and Community Development of Nigeria; Hajia Turai Abdulkadir from the AUN-Atiku Institute, and senior AUN officials including Assistant Vice President Abdullahi Bello Abdullahi who coordinates the Peace through Sports program.
In the delegation also were Ms. Aline Mugisho, Executive Manager of the i-youth project of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, and Mr. Jarad Nyandwe of the All for Peace and Dignity (APADE), a Canadian registered non-profit organization active in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
President Ensign expressed optimism that the visit would usher in an era of peace and reconciliation in the communities.
During the visit, AUN-API donated two post-harvest shredder machines respectively to Guyuk and Numan. The machines are suitable for converting left-over crops, leaves, and fruits into cattle feed, and manure, organic fuel, and raw materials for agro-industrial reuse. President Ensign emphasized both the functionality of the machines in reducing post-harvest losses and in converting agricultural waste to cattle nutrients, as well as the symbolism of farmers and herders sharing the same utility, which will bring the two groups together in beneficial resource interdependency.
In Guyuk, the President said, "With support from our IITA partners and others within our peace group, we will be working together to see how we will support agriculture production and poverty reduction and in this region. We would love Guyuk to be a role model for the rest of north-east Nigerian on how to solve these problems. We will lift people up and improve their incomes their food security. That is why we are here today.”
AUN-API also offered to engage youths in both communities in meaningful activity through its highly successful Peace through Sports program. The program's coordinator Abdullahi Bello explained that youths enrolled in the Peace through Sports program are put through ICT skill acquisition and business, and entrepreneurship training. Participants are mentored to develop a business plan which can attract funding.
"We use sports to drive peace and development. The Peace Through Sport Program is a well-documented research-based approach where we use sport as common ground to build relationships and friendships across ethnic, religious and tribal lines. We encourage youths in communities, male and female, to form what we called unity teams that include other youths from the other side and they play together and build relationships that promote peace and development,” AVP Bello explained. The ruler of Numan, Homun Dr. Daniel Ismail Shaga Hama Bachama expressed full support for the program.
Bishop Mamza enjoined the traditional rulers and their subjects to maintain the peace in their communities as AUN-API is reaching out to other stakeholders to address the root causes of the crises and conflicts in various parts of the state.
Bishop Mamza further urged the monarchs to ensure judicious use of the donated machines and send reports of how they have helped to achieve the purposes of increased agricultural production and peacebuilding as the group expects to build on and expand it as a pilot project.
"As we know, the conflicts here revolve around farmers and herders, besides other lesser tribal clashes. We continue to ask for peaceful coexistence, particularly among the Waja and the Runguda, because peace will create more opportunities for more programs to benefit the local people and your community," the Bishop said.
Both monarchs expressed deep appreciation for the visits of the AUN-API delegation and promised judicious use of the donated equipment. They expressed enthusiasm for the Peace Through Sports program and pledged to mobilize their youths to take full advantage of the program. They acknowledged the role peace plays in the development and urged those in authority to consider justice and compensation to victims of violence as essential pillars of peace and reconciliation.