National Leader of the Gongola Peoples’ Forum (GPF), General Haladu Hananiya (rtd), has charged the elder council of the socio-cultural organisation to sink their differences but unite to take part the identity and restore the dignity of the Indegenous people of the Gongola region.
Speaking at the inauguration of the elders council in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, Gen. Hananiya said the formation of the council is a call to duty and represents the resolve of the people of the Gongola region to take back what belongs to them as well as taking the destiny of their people in their own hands.
He advised members of the elders council to always remember that the success the forum is enjoying today, is the result of the foundation laid by the their forefathers, admonishing that a society that refuses to celebrate its heroes loses her roots and thus, her history.
“History is very important because it is an unfading tapestry that mirrows strength and failures for the living to learn from.
“In our case, we have learned a lot to realise the need to sink our differences and come together under the GPF to take back our identity and restore our dignity as peoples with a robust civilization that had its unique way of life.
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“Together with their other comtemporaries in the Middle Belt and South-South, our forefathers contributed to build what is called Nigeria today. This is an incontrovertible fact!
“Through hard labour here in the Gongola and Benue valleys, the Gongola peoples fed the groundnuts piramids of Kano, their cotton production fed the Kaduna textiles and they fought the Civil War to keep Nigeria one. We have paid our dues for the unity and stability of Nigeria.
“Today, we rejoice that our Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri has given us new chiefdoms and emirates. We sincerely appreciate this action borne out of courage and determination never seen before to reparate our peoples who have been suppressed and exploited for far too long. However, the struggle is not over yet.
“Elders, with this structure, we cannot afford to fail. Your inauguration today is a call to duty, to take back what rightly belongs to us. That is what this means. Posterity will judge us on how we perform.
“This is the time to demonstrate that we are indeed, the elders of our people. This requires unusual sacrifces: every asset must be deployed to help the executives execute their people- oriented programmes,” said…
