Group calls for nationwide apologies,unveils blueprint for national healing

Omoola Olarewaju, Ilorin

Nigeria’s unresolved historical wounds took center stage on yesterday as the Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro) released what it described as a transformative blueprint for national reconciliation.

Presenting the proposal in Abuja, the organisation’s Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, said Nigeria could no longer “patch over deep scars” while hoping for unity. According to him, “True reconciliation begins with truth, acknowledgment, and the courage to say, we are sorry.”

Hamzat said the blueprint calls for symbolic but significant apologies from key regions, ethnic blocs, communities, religious groups, and government institutions, as part of what he described as a “structured process of truth-telling and healing.”

Under the proposal, the South East is urged to apologise to the Niger Delta for political actions that heightened tensions leading to the historic 12-Day Revolution. It also calls on the South East to apologise for the 1966 first military coup, which altered Nigeria’s political direction.

The blueprint further demands that the North apologise for the pogroms against the Igbo, describing the events as among the most traumatic episodes in Nigeria’s history.

The Federal Government is asked to apologise to Nigerians for “decades of insecurity, corruption, economic hardship, and governance failures.” It also proposes a separate apology from the Federal Government to the South East for the massive human and economic losses recorded during the Nigerian Civil War.

PeacePro recommended that Fulani leadership tender an apology to victims of banditry and herder-related violence, noting that communities across the country have suffered widespread destruction.

The proposal also states that the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo should apologise to minority ethnic groups for longstanding political and cultural marginalization.

On religious relations, the organization urged Christians and Muslims to apologise to each other for intolerance, and called on both faiths to apologise to traditional worshippers for years of discrimination.

Hamzat emphasised that the blueprint was not intended to open old wounds, but to confront them. “An apology is not weakness. It is leadership. It is maturity,” he said, adding that no group in Nigeria’s history is without blame.

He argued that genuine national unity requires honest reflection from all sides. “Every region has its own role in our troubled history. No community is guiltless, and no group is without pain,” he said.

PeacePro concluded its position by urging Nigerians to embrace national forgiveness. According to the group, the country now stands at a critical moment where truth, courage, and a collective willingness to forgive could lay the foundation for the peaceful and united nation long desired.