Renewed
violent attack came the way of the A people of Plateau State, nearly after
almost two years of relative peace.
Although not anything unusual when compared
with some of the experiences of the past, the people were no less alarmed still
with the way and manner the latest attack was quick to spread, leaving in its
trail, monumental havoc.
Put succinctly, what happened in the last few
days was a clear indication that though there might have been relative peace,
the merchants of violence had their mercenaries prepared in the event of the
slightest provocation.
The state has a history of over a decade and a
half of violence triggered either by ethnic, religious or political tussle,
with attendant destruction of lives and property. And for a state that still
prides itself as 'home of peace and tourism', what has been seen in the past
over a decade describes it in the exact opposite.
The crises have been multifaceted, which has
made it difficult for successive governments, from the days of Senator Joshua
Chibi Dariye to proffer any lasting solution to it. Interestingly, whilst the
attacks hardly occur among the indigenous tribes of the state, it has always
been the Hausa-Fulani settlers taking on each of the tribes, one after the
other. And after their decades of sojourn and business activities in the land,
they would rather prefer to be called indigenes, and demand to be given the
rights accruable to the indigenes, especially when the issue involved is
political.
One common characteristic of all the crises is
that they easily snowball into religious violence, irrespective of their
initial causes. This is because the natives, who are predominantly Christians
and the Hausa-Fulani, who are predominantly Muslims, would always whip up
religious sentiments to attract sympathy and support. In 2001, the sectarian
crisis over the ownership of Jos, especially Jos North degenerated into serious
mayhem that claimed many lives in the wake of it. It eventually culminated into
the razing down of the famous Jos main market in 2002. The market, which was a
commercial nerve centre for all the states in the entire Northern region and
beyond had since been in ruins. The setback caused by the destruction of the
market is one that Plateau has struggled endlessly to overcome 10 years after
without success, as no government has been able to re-build it till today.
Successive
governments, including the current one, have made frantic efforts without any
headway. Not only were lives and property lost in the crisis, it marked the
beginning of wounds that have refused to heal as a people that once lived
peacefully together now totally resent one another due to mutual distrust. The
Yelwa/Shendam crisis of June 2002 and the repeat in 2004 started as
inter-communal conflict between the native tribes in the Southern part of
Plateau and the Hausa-Fulani in the area. But it soon snowballed into a huge
religious crisis, leading to the burning of churches and mosques in the area,
with many lives lost in the aftermath, and declaration of a state of emergency
by the federal government. This further deepened the already existing suspicion
and hatred among the people, leading to many of them relocating to be amongst
the people of their faith for fear of being victims of reprisal attacks.
This gave way to the 2008 post-local
government election violence that claimed over 800 lives. It started like a
political disturbance, when a group of youths alleged that they were being
manipulated during the collation of the election results in Jos North Local
Government Area. It soon metamorphosed into a religious riot, leading to full
blown crisis that led to the burning of worship places and property including
the Bukuru food market. Governments at both the state and the national levels
constituted panels of inquiry to unearth the remote causes of the various
crises but the reports were never implemented. Among the panels constituted at
various times were The Nikki Tobi Panel, Fiberesima Panel, Bola Ajibola Panel,
Emmanuel Abisoye Panel, and even the one constituted by the House of Representatives.
All ended up on the shelf as none was ever implemented, although it was alleged
that some sacred cows were indicted. Sincerely, this has been the bane of the
unending crises in the state, as people who felt terribly hurt by the loss of their
loved ones and property continued to see those alleged to have been indicted in
their misfortune move freely unpunished. In fact, some indicted persons
allegedly got juicy federal government appointments rather than being
sanctioned.
Since the
2008 crisis, Plateau has suffered huge casualties especially in the villages, as
those who felt that they didn't get justice in spite of the series of panels
resorted to self-help. They mobilised themselves into groups for attacks and
counter-attacks leading to more casualties in the villages. While these
happened in the villages, Jos the capital city was merely sitting on keg of
gunpowder. Any slight provocation easily degenerated into serious mayhem. One
of them was in 2010, when a man whose house was destroyed at Dutse-uku in the
city centre in 2008, went back to re-build his house, and in the process, he
was attacked by his neighbours of a different faith, leading to another round of
riot that claimed hundreds of lives. A Berom village of Dogo Nahawa was
thereafter attacked and over 200 killed.
A settlement in Kuru predominated by the
HausaFulani was also attacked and close to 200 people were also killed. And the
circle continued. Since then, Jos became a hotbed for killings in both night
and broad day attacks of men in their farms and women, children and the elderly
in their homes. At a point, the government of exPresident Goodluck Jonathan had
to declare a state of emergency too in some local governments after a serving
Senator, Dr. Gyang Dantong, and a state assemblyman, Mr. Gyang Fulani, died in
a village, where they had gone to mourn those that were killed the previous
day. They were in the village when some attackers swooped on them, and as they
scampered to safety, they met their deaths. The attacks and killings continued
until the end of the administration of former Governor Jonah David Jang in
2015.
Many blamed the crises on Jang, whom they
described as stubborn and unyielding to the voice of reason. They added that
Jang hated the Hausa-Fulani and did not carry them along in his government, and
consequently, they paid him back by embroiling the state in series of crises
and making it ungovernable for him. That, unfortunately, was a lame one. The
crises had started before Jang became governor. How he was supposed to be
blamed for the 2001 and 2002 Jos crises and those of Yelwa/Shendam when Dariye
was the governor still beats the imagination of observers.
But Jang's
supporters believed that the Hausa-Fulani are a people that are generally
difficult to please and who have made crises a lifestyle, and thrive in them.
They believe that Jang did well by placing them where they belonged. Now, it is
the administration of Governor Simon Bako Lalong, who chose to soft-pedal on
the Hausa-Fulani probably to win their favour so as to get the needed peace for
the development of the state.
As a way of
carrying them along, he gave the Hausa-Fulani some good appointments and got
them involved in the governance of the state. The governor also embarked on
peace missions to all the tribes in the state, appealing to them to sheathe
their swords. But that only paid off for a while. His first two years in office
experienced a fleeting peace, with few attacks including the murder of Saf Ron
Kulere, the paramount ruler of Bokkos, Lazarus Agai, who was attacked and
killed on his way from his farm.
The police
promised to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book, but it only ended
up as usual – mere promises. The peace became an anthem of achievement for
Lalong's government as he claimed glory for the return of peace in the state.
To be fair to him, several things began to change as commercial activities
seriously sprang up, with investors considering a return to the state. Jos
carnival, trade fairs, and several concerts hosted at various times in Jos were
a mark of the return of peace. But it was not for too long. The entire peace
began to crumble since last month, and has now totally collapsed in the past
days with over 50 lives lost in the most gruesome manner. No thanks to whoever
murdered a young Fulani boy in a small village of Ancha in Bassa local
government area of the state in September. In a reprisal, suspected Fulani
killed over 20 persons to avenge the murder. The natives, who claimed innocence
of the boy's death, had blamed it on cult activities. They had however appealed
to the Fulani for calm, promising to investigate it. But before the
investigation could be completed, the Fulani who perhaps became hesitant
pounced on the village leaving over 20 dead.
villager in
Ancha said the gunmen invaded the community at about 1:45 am when his kinsmen
were fast asleep, and attacked the people randomly, adding that the attack
lasted for over an hour without resistance from the community and the security
men, until the gunmen completed their mission and disappeared into the nearby
hills. Police Commissioner at the time,
Peter Ogunyanwo, said the attackers were
suspected Fulani on reprisal, “who went from house to house killing innocent
people.” He said the Fulani had written to the Police to complain that one of
their boys was killed, beheaded and buried in a shallow grave in the bush,
adding that the boy had ran away from home after committing a mischief, and
that after three days his headless body was found in a nearby bush.
Ogunyanwo
said the police quickly swung into action and arrested five persons in
connection with the murder, but that he did not expect anyone to take the laws
into their hands to go on reprisal after reporting to the police and
investigations had commenced. Since then, it has been series of attacks and
counter attacks as the crisis easily spread. The most worrisome, however, was
the recent reprisal against the Igbos in Jos by the Hausa over the activities
of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South-east leading to the
death of at least two.
The
development led to the imposition of a dust-todawn curfew on the state. And
according to the governor, the crisis nearly deprived the state of the hosting
right of NYSC National Management conference that was scheduled for that period.
A fortnight ago, one-time Head of Service in the state, Da Moses Gwom, was
attacked and murdered in his own house at Dorowa in Barkin Ladi Local
Government of the state by unknown persons. His murder was just one of the
several killings in the state in recent days. The development forced the state
government to impose an indefinite dusk-todawn curfew on Bassa local government
area, where the killings became frequent. But it never solved the problem as
killings continued daily in the area in spite of the curfew. The security
operatives were therefore accused of complicity. The people of the area alleged
that they thrive in the crises, wondering why attacks and killings should
continue daily in a local government, where curfew was imposed with more security
men on the ground.
The alleged
complicity of the security agents, especially the soldiers became more likely
with the recent attack on Nkiedonwhro village in which over 27 persons were
summarily killed by gunmen in a primary school classroom next to the one used
as operational base by soldiers on the same block. One would wonder what
exactly happened that 27 persons were shot dead in one classroom when the very
next classroom on the same block was occupied by soldiers, where they used as
their operational base, and no none of the attackers was killed nor arrested.
Did the soldiers sleep off? Were they sedated? Did the gunshots that killed the
27 not make any sound? Did the victims not at least cry out before they were
all killed? Did the soldiers go on patrol from the block and left their unarmed
neighbours at the mercy of the attackers? These remain some of the unanswered
questions. National President of Irigwe Development Association (IDA), Mr.
Sunday Abdu, indicted the soldiers and said they gathered the villagers for the
Fulani to kill. “How can the same soldiers who gathered the villagers in one
classroom next to their own claim they didn't know when the attackers came and
killed all of them in one night?”, he queried. He said the soldiers had gathered
the victims to the primary school in the village to protect them from
persistent attacks in the area, adding that while the soldiers occupied one
classroom, where they use as their operational base, the women and children
occupied the next classroom. “How then did the attackers come and killed the
women and children without the soldiers knowing? It is either that the soldiers
are conniving with the attackers to annihilate our people or they ran away and
left our people to their fate.
It is even
more worrisome that the same local government was under curfew imposed on it by
the state government when this happened.” The fact remains that there are still
unhealed wounds from past crises which need to be treated if Plateau must know
a lasting peace. This cannot be covered by offer of appointments. Such will only
give a temporary peace that cannot stand the test of time. The reports of the
various panels of inquiry must be re-visited and those indicted punished. Then
the people that have been hurt will feel that justice has been done. That way,
the persistent crises would be resolved from their roots. Glossing over it will
only amount to further postponing the evil days
