Post electoral violence: Women groups call for peace

InterFaith Council of Muslim and Christian women groups in Kaduna State, have called for an end to the post-election violence witnessed in some parts of the country.Making the appeal in Kaduna during a news conference, the council said the carnage, which started as a political crisis, had ``negatively affected our society and cannot be justified under any pretext.They urged mothers to caution their wards against acts of violence threatening peaceful co-existence, national stability and progress.Tell them violence begets only violence, we must see in each man a brotherhood and in each woman a sisterhood, and we must seek pleasant approach to resolve our disagreements through peaceful means.The council also charged the Federal Government to reassure all citizens of their security and welfare.We find it insensitive on the part of our leaders that they should celebrate victory, while simultaneously, citizens were killing one another in the name of that victory, the women said.The women however, advised the government to deal decisively with perpetrators of the crime in order to serve as a deterrent to othersOur ethnic and religious diversities should be our greatest source of strength because they bring with them so many ethical values, rich cultural expressions and social norms, they added.On their part as religious leaders, the women implored that, ``more honesty and self-criticism is required from the religious leaders about the way they and the adherents of their faith community live in Nigerian society and how religion has been used as a catalyst for competition, division and even violence.
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