An event to honour personalities by an organization called Gongola Peoples Forum, takes place on Saturday 29, June in Yola, Adamawa State. Spokesman of the organization, Markus Gundiri says the organisation is a conglomerate of all ethnic nationalities in the country towards fostering unity and economic progress of its people. Gundiri said the group has set Saturday to unveil the forum and the event is designed to celebrate its illustrious sons and daughters, and to officially launch the forum’s Identity in order to highlight the social, cultural and geographical significance of the forum in the country....Read The Full Story Here ▶
The Gongola Peoples Forum made this position at a pre-event press briefing led by Gundiri, in Yola, Adamawa state capital.
According to the group, the name Gongola bares a cultural, ethnic and sociological interconnectivity that captures diverse ethnic nationalities across various different geopolitical zones in the country and that the Saturday’s event is designed to highlight the success of its members, the uniqueness of its geographical identity and essence of the multicultural peaceful co-existence through several centuries.
Gundiri said the celebration is designed to foster unity and economic development of the indigenous groups within the Gongola enclave and to reenact the long standing unity and togetherness which the people share as a common heritage.“This event is an unpolitical meeting, it is a celebration of our people who have excelled in various fields of endeavour and who fall within the Gongola identify,” he said. He noted that, “Most of us share a common culture, traditions, beliefs, and language.
These have been ethnic nationalities living together harmonious and constitute a larger chunk of ethnic groups living within Adamawa, Taraba,, Borno, Plateau, Nasarawa, among several other states in the country.” Gundiri explained further that, “There has been attempts in the past to enforce separation among members of the Gongola nation who have been together as far back as the 1780s and share cultures that we generally refer to as Gongola culture.“Our goal is to revisit, reawakened and reassert ourselves as people with independent minds and ability to forge their economy and identities, he said.
The award and recognition event is expected to be attended by the former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, TY Danjuma, Jonah Jang, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Babachir among other statesmen. The Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri and his counterparts from Plateau and Taraba states are among the special guests scheduled to attend the occasion.
