Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has made a passionate appeal to the religious and community leaders in Southern Kaduna, urging them to give peace a chance in their communities.

Osinbajo met with the leaders on the sideline of his inspection visit to the Kaduna Airport on Friday to ascertain the level of preparedness as the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, draws nearer.

The Acting President was accompanied on the Kaduna visit by the Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Transport, Rotimi Ameachi, as well as other government functionaries.

“While in Kaduna, after inspecting the airport ahead of next week’s closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport for repairs, I held a meeting with religious and community leaders from Southern Kaduna,” the acting President wrote on his social media handle.

He noted that the meeting was the “first in a series of meetings I intend to hold with the community.”

“Today’s meeting is just the beginning. I will return to meet each group separately and then meet all groups together again,” he said.

Osinbajo stated that he “expressed condolence in person on behalf of the Buhari administration to all those who have lost lives”, urging them “to stop the bloodshed and let there be peace.”

He commended the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai “who hosted the meeting at the Government House.”

Earlier, the Acting President was shown round the upgraded facilities at the Kaduna Airport, after which he also visited a newly constructed link road from the Kaduna Airport to the railway station.

Governor Nasir-El-Rufai said the link road would ease movement from the airport to the railway station from where Abuja-bound passengers can easily make their way to their destinations.

Osinbajo’s meeting with Southern Kaduna leaders will go a long way at the efforts being made to restore peace to the volatile region, where clashes,mostly between farmers and herdsmen, had led to the loss of several lives.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been roundly criticized for not showing enough interest in the situation which in recent times has assumed ethnic and religious dimensions.