Kingsley Moghalu has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to establish a Reconciliation Commission.
Gatekeeper News reports that the Convener of Moghalu4Nigeria and former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a matter of urgency.
Moghalu in a statement on Tuesday said this the first step to stabilise the country and begin the process of national healing and reconciliation.
The 2019 Presidential candidate stated that the Commission must comprise of seven independent members of high reputation and relevant expertise, one from each geopolitical zone.
He also recommended that the commission must also have one international member assigned from the United Nations or South Africa, both entities of which have extensive experience in TRC matters.
According to him, the Commission must be given a six-month mandate to examine specifically the events of January 1966 to January 1970.
Also, Moghalu noted that witnesses, survivors, and critical players who are still alive must be invited to make statements.
The former CBN Deputy Governor further suggested that the commission should “make findings and recommendations that will promote national reconciliation by turning historical memory into a positive force for mutual forgiveness and nation-building.”
He, therefore, called President Buhari to “invite all secessionist agitation movements to a national dialogue in order to give them a hearing with a view to addressing credible, verifiable grievances.”
As regards the nation’s constitution, Moghalu said “Concrete actions towards the establishment of an Constituent Assembly to begin the framing of a new Constitution, with legislative support from the National Assembly, should be initiated jointly by the Presidency in collaboration with the National Assembly and representatives of ethnic nationalities, traditional rulers, the clergy, and civil society.”
He also recommended that “President Buhari should appoint a panel of historians, with equal representation from the northern and southern parts of Nigeria to review and agree on a curriculum of contemporary national history, including the Nigerian Civil War, to be taught in primary and secondary institutions from the specific perspective of lessons learned, national healing and reconciliation;
“Establish May 30 as a national holiday to remember the millions that died in the Nigerian civil war.”
Moghalu noted that “to build our nation, we must confront our history, and embrace reconciliation.”
