WITHOUT an end in sight yet, the ranging crisis in Borno, Kaduna, and Plateau states has led to the displacement of over one million residents. This is however not the total figure of all the displaced persons but the ones being resettled in Bauchi State.
Even in Bauchi where they ran for safety, pockets of violence occur frequently in both the state capital and the hinterlands.
Most of the persons, who ran to Bauchi from Kaduna for safety, are victims of the political crisis that ensued after the April presidential election and skirmishes in Kafanchan and its environs.
The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi, who visited the displaced persons in five camps in Bauchi at the weekend, appealed to them to be tolerant, law-abiding and conduct themselves in a peaceful manner.
He said over one million of the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been resettled in various locations in the state.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese, Joseph Akinfenwa, has charged the Judiciary to work with the Executive arm of government to bring members of the destructive Islamic sect, Boko Haram, to book.
Akinfenwa, in his sermon to mark the 2011/2012 legal year in the state, also tasked the Bar and Bench to stand for justice at all times.
Sidi disclosed that the camps were filled by victims of the crises that erupted in the neighboring states of Borno, Plateau and Kaduna.
He said the state has the largest number of displaced persons in the country with camps in several local councils.
Sidi also said President Goodluck Jonathan actually asked his team to visits all the victims in their camps and settlements across the country to assess their living conditions.
He explained that the outcome of the tour would enable federal and state governments evolve ways to make life comfortable for them in their present situations.
The NEMA boss appealed to the people to remain calm and pray for peace in Nigeria.
He added that government and other stakeholders are working to provide more relief materials for the displaced persons.
Sidi commended the Bauchi State government for accommodating the victims and providing relief materials for them regularly.
Representatives of the victims in the five camps appeal to the relevant stakeholders to provide them with access roads, schools for their children, health facilities, employment, and soft loans to start their businesses.
At the service held at the Cathedral of St James in Ibadan, Akinfenwa enjoined the judges to commit their ways to God and decide cases before them with the fear of their creator.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who attended a similar service at Oja Oba Central Mosque, restated his administration's commitment to the rule of law, saying it would not in any way meddle in the due process of law.
Ajimobi pledged that his administration would renovate the courts to enhance the smooth dispensation of justice.
He said his administration was also attending to the welfare of state counsel to boost their morale and make them more effective.
"Let me give this assurance that this wind of change shall pervade all the spheres of the judiciary. We shall change the toga of impunity, albeit erroneously, attributed to us in Oyo State,'' the governor said.
In their goodwill messages, the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola Alao and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan branch, implored the government to provide access to justice for indigent persons through the legal aid programme.
The Guardian