PEACEMAKERS RECONCILE COMMUNITIES, FAMILIES, MARRIAGES

Many mistake them to be naval officers because of their uniform, but they are the chaplaincy, popularly called the Peacemakers.

The organisation which its motto is 'service to humanity' was first introduced by the Roman army as military chaplaincy.

It was said to have been introduced in Nigeria in 1984 with the goal of ensuring continuous growth and peace in the country.

In Anambra State, the Chaplaincy has made remarkable achievements that made it stand it out, especially in the area of restoration of peace in crisis-ridden communities.

According to the Head of Chaplaincy, Anambra State, Chaplain Major-General Jide E. Jisos, the organisation in the state is focused on reconciling men and ensuring peace in Anambra State.

'We unite to ensure peace in the state, our main focus is to reconcile marriages, bring peace in rural and urban areas, governmental offices etc. You know in the time past, you heard that His Excellency, Mr Peter Obi and then Deputy, Dame Virgy Etiaba had a little problem, if we had been around then in the state, we would have handled it in such a way that it wouldn't have reached the level it got to,' he said.

The Chaplaincy which recently commissioned its state command behind the Government House, Awka has, according to the head, affected positively many communities and families that would have remained in crisis today, but for the organisation.

Reeling out some of the achievements of the organisation, Maj-Gen Jisos told Daily Sun:

'The Anambra Chaplaincy promotes a participative, creative and monumental type of democracy and governance. As we represent God, the people and government based on this, I can assert that its importance in every organisation, not only in the military can never be under-valued.

'It might interest you to know that Anambra State Chaplaincy since the creation of this state has contributed a lot in ensuring peace in the state. For example, Nkpor and Ogidi land dispute is about three years, but today when Anambra State Chaplaincy came into the matter, it was settled under two weeks.

'The land dispute between Umuenugu and Umuokpu kindred in Amansea, it was also Anambra State Chaplaincy that came into that problem, when they were killing, arresting and molesting themselves, Chaplaincy came in and under four days peace was restored in Amansea community.

'I have a lot to say, in fact, two weeks ago, there was a man from Obosi who died and the family members were engulfed in quarrels, arresting themselves that the deceased should not be buried. For one year, the man was kept in the mortuary, the Igwe of Obosi couldn't penetrate, the police couldn't resolve it, but the matter came to us about three weeks ago, and we entered into the matter. Under three days, peace was restored in that family, and the man was buried last Friday.

'There was a case of a 419ner who used the name of Governor Peter Obi to dupe 1,636 people in Onitsha, claiming that the governor was giving out bags of rice at N2, 500 and she duped a lot of people. The matter came up to the Chaplaincy, we followed up the woman and all those people that were duped, their money was given back to them one by one.

'The Chaplaincy was introduced in the state basically to ensure peace, bring joy in families, and reunite broken families. A lot of families are broken, but by the help of God through the Anambra Chaplaincy, there is going to be peace in many families in the state.

'We will make sure that there is nothing like disharmony among government officials, we will make sure there is peace in the various parastatals, that is why we came on board.

'We have our offices and our men in the 21 local governments in the state. We have GOC in-charge of areas, and unit directors.

'I want to humbly request the Anambra State government and its agencies to absorb these trained chaplains into the parastatals, like we have officers from the state to the unit levels.

'They can man and control all the sectors, the chaplains can function in the government house, ministries, legislative house, communities, development communities, communal clash settlements, land dispute committee, pilgrim board committee, project monitoring committee, local government council and other government agencies.

'We are out to ensure peace, you don't need to go to war, just give peace a chance.'

Also speaking, the GOC Government House, Chaplain Alphonsus Ginikanwa stressed the need of the chaplaincy in every sector.

'Chaplaincy is needed badly in every sector to ensure that orderly society that we actually wanted is in place.

'Members of the chaplaincy are responsible and men of integrity from every walks of life, people who could be trusted and who have been tested in various areas of life and so we are sure that they will deliver.

'We are partners with government in serving the society and ensuring the good of the people. From what the head of the Chaplaincy has said, it is understandable that a lot of things could be done by the law, by gun or by whatever, but men who are representatives of God could do it with minimal efforts. So, we wish the chaplaincy is appreciated and given its rightful place,' Ginikanwa said.