Till this moment throughout my sojourn on planet earth, I have never come across a set of people that hate to be developed by others like those so called indigenes of Plateau State languishing in abject poverty, frustrated, confused but deceived by their so called leaders living in opulence.
If you desire their votes in any election, tell them what they want to hear. Tell them you will flush out those Muslims in their midst. Tell them you will sponsor the killings of Fulani, and their votes are yours in the name of Jesus!
“I am a son of the soil, you are a settler” this is what usually oozes from the mouths of the natives of Plateau State when discussing with those tagged as settlers, particularly Hausa/Fulani Muslims whose great grand, grandparents labored through tin ore and columbite mining, arts/crafts, animals husbandry and trading to build the state when the natives were hiding in caves until the arrival of White missionaries to be smoked out for ‘salvation’ and public acceptance.
But to the Plateau natives, a fellow Christian native from Manchok, Zangon Kataf, Kagoro, Kafanchan, Gonin Gora etc of neighboring Kaduna State or Sayawa and Jarawa natives from Bogoro in Bauchi State, are not settlers on the Plateau but brothers. In fact, those ‘brothers’ enjoy full respect and recognition from some past governments than the so called settlers despite their economic contributions to the sustenance of the state overtime.
Jos North hosting Plateau State capital is no more in the news as those hoodlums and their blood thirsty sponsors who severally unleashed mayhem on the once beautiful and peaceful tin city hiding under the guise of ethnicity and religion, were forced to retrieve back after the exit of their demi-god and his remnants from power.
They attempted bouncing back few years back but the commendable efforts for return of peace put-in-place by former Governor Simon Bako Lalong discouraged and shattered their plans. That is now part of history as fragile peace has returned to Jos city.
To those of us that have an inkling of what actually ignited the crisis from the beginning with some Muslims tagged as settlers while some addressed as Indigenous Muslims, we are not surprise that another round of the killings has not erupted in Jos.
We all know the primary intention of the crisis that will remain an illusion till eternity because it can never be realized, and no matter the strategy applied by any of the warring factions and whosoever presides over the government.
Fortunately, Most of those who planned its execution are no more. They died as disappointed bigots and left behind the ugly situation the people are battling.
If one may eventually ask, who has the capacity and courage to stop the ongoing madness on the Plateau, what should be the expected answer? Who are those fanning the embers of hatred between Muslims and Christians and for what reason? Who started what looked like an ethnic cleansing exercise on the Plateau and discriminating theories? Who fired the first shot against the other? Were those responsible for past acts of gruesome murders, arrested and prosecuted or were set free by the powers that be? Does Plateau State need peace or is comfortable with the security challenges it faces? Is the State Government ready to do the needful no matter whose ox may be gored for ever lasting peace? These are few questions that continue to beg for answers.
The ongoing grisly and despicable killings in Mangu, Barikin Ladi, Bokkos and Riyom added to the massacre of over 500 Berom natives in Dogo Nahauwa a suburb of Jos on Sunday, March 7, 2010, the massacre of several innocent Hausa/Fulani in Kuru and Yelwan Shendam and those along the federal highway that passes through Berom communities, the gruesome murder of Gen. Alkali at Dura-Du by suspected Berom bandits, and the murder of 23 innocent commuters at Rukuba road in Jos by suspected Irigwe youth and the killing of 25 innocent souls at Zangam Yelwa are few references for this discourse.
We are not talking of the attempted ethnic cleansing that took place in the various local governments in the state by suspected natives garbed in ethno-religious attires, allegedly supported by governments of the past.
The crisis rocking the foundation of unity and cohesion in Plateau state seems to have reached a point of catastrophe and beyond immediate solution. The state is paying dearly in all fronts. One wonders how the state turned into such lawlessness that evil now holds sway with impunity. Definitely, there had been an absence of sincere government in place.
Plateau State crisis dates back to the administration of Joshua Chibi Dariye (1999-2007) who now ‘proudly’ owns the medal of a pardoned imprisoned criminal. Insecurity was one of the recurring ugly decimals that marked and de-branded that administration at the State and at the centre.
The Jonah David Jang administration that came on board after the disgraceful exit of Dariye, and was even the worse as it appeared to have been enjoying the spate of killings until its exit in 2015.
So the mega-merger that birthed All Progressives Congress (APC) latched on Jang’s lapses and weaknesses to promise the much needed ‘change’ for a better peaceful state, and the electorates supported the change mantra with pride.
The blood thirsty monster that has turned our beloved and only nation state into the killing fields of the African Continent courtesy of several factors that include; terrorism, ethno-religious sentiment, the restless rage of armed robbery, banditry and kidnapping for ransom has not relented. Instead it has bared its fangs worse than ever before in our chequered history.
For instance, related to the crisis persistently rocking Plateau State, there were major headlines that assumed different disturbing tunes. Amongst these were; “Plateau Attack: Governor Lalong Imposes Curfew on Three LGAs”, “Gunmen suspected to be herders have again attacked Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, killing five persons, despite the imposed curfew”. “Over 20 travelers were killed by militiamen recently in Plateau State while returning to Ondo State from Bauchi where they attended an Islamic function”.
In response other headlines stated that: “Atiku Condemns Killings in Plateau”, “NGF condemns Plateau killings, calls for calm.” “Plateau Attacks: 20 Suspects Arrested As IGP Deploys Operatives To Protect Citizens”.
Although the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and other tribal organizations have consistently denied any complicity in the attacks, warning that they should not always be linked to all attacks in the state, there are bitter lessons to learn from the series of killings over the years. The ones that have engulfed Plateau State since 2001 paint a parlous portrait of a country where the citizens’ lives mean little or nothing to those who swore by their Holy Books to protect and defend lives and property without fear or favor.
For how long are we going to tolerate the crass absurdity of unmitigated murders in our country, Nigeria especially in Benue, Taraba and Plateau States? Indeed, my continued outrage at the recurring bestial blood -letting on the Plateau since 2001 is predicated on the apparent impotence on the part of both the federal and state governments through the security agencies to rein in the monster of the orgy of violence.
As events have since proved not much has been achieved by those on the corridors of power to stem the tide of the unfortunate bloodbath. On August 29, 2011, 20 innocent persons were gruesomely murdered during a violence sparked at Anguwan Rukuba Road, Jos.
Muslims had to celebrate their Eid-el-Fitr indoors. Yet, the worst case scenario was to follow later.
According to reports, some suspected herders went on rampage in Heipang near Jos on Sunday, September 4. 2011. By the time they were through, the family of one Chollom Gyang, including his wife Hannatu, six children and a four month old baby were dispatched to their ancestors. And in a subsequent sweeping strike by unidentified gunmen suspected to be Berom militia, a Fulani family of eight, including a visitor were, hacked to hideous death at Foron village in Barikin Ladi local government area at about 1.00am on Friday, September, 9, 2011. It was the fourth of such beastly attacks in Plateau state within just a week!
If that was a decade ago, what do we make of the year 2021, with regards to the safety of the people on the Plateau? As if the vandalization of farmlands by suspected armed herders and cattle rustling by suspected natives and destruction of properties by ethno-religious jingoists were not enough and as if re-enacting a midnight horror film as the 10th Anniversary of the past tragedy, some assailants had attacked, Tafi Gana village on August 17, 2021. There they descended on their victims’ and posted them to their ancestors. And in another attack at Dong village, gunmen murdered a resident, a development confirmed by leader of the community.
At the sleepy village of Dawan, Ganawuri Chiefdom in Riyom local government area, in broad daylight, the residence of a prominent politician who served as a member of the Federal Executive Council in the Obasanjo administration, Damishi Tonson Sango was attacked and one of his police orderlies was murdered by suspected natives of neighboring community.
Similarly, it was confirmed that on Wednesday, August 18, 2021 there was an attack by unknown gunmen on an Irigwe community with five persons killed while four others were missing despite the imposed curfew on Bassa.
The vogue by Berom natives (Turu) in times of crisis whose communities are located by the federal highways is to attack and murder innocent travelers in retaliation to attacks by either herders or their common enemies within them. Instead of reprisal action on perpetrators of earlier attacks on their community, they natives cowardly lay ambush to murder innocent travelers to please their conscience.
Federal establishments located within Berom communities are not safe all the times. Without provocation or any unruly behavior towards them, those establishments are attacked with other ethnic groups targeted for murder based on ethnicity or religion. The natives forget the fact that those gruesomely murdered without reason, have relations elsewhere that can also be murderous in retaliation with time. For instance, the gruesome murder of Gen. Alkali by suspected Berom militia whose known offence was passing through Berom land as a free and independent citizen. He was stopped, robbed, humiliated and subsequently murdered for the sake of his religion and tribe.
Funny enough, same murderers still expect to live in peace without tasting the bitterness of their brutal action in due course. That’s an illusion with time!
So, what is the way forward to the spate of killings not only in Plateau State but in several other areas across Nigeria such as Niger, Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Abuja FCT and Nasarawa States? These apart from killings related to secessionist agitations in the Southeast geo-political zone by IPOB and ESN.
Going forward, it has become imperative for the political leaders to demonstrate, more by actions than by words that they are in power for the entire country, state or local council and not for their ethnic nationalities, religion or kith and kin as was the case in Plateau State before the coming of Lalong.
We must do away with king-servant relationship. No ethnic group or any part of the country, or state should be seen as superior to others.
Security operatives should do much more on intelligence information gathering, articulation, interpretation and taking proactive actions. That is, when and where it matters most. The pain in all of these is that most of these deaths were preventable.
It could be recalled that Mario Machungo, in his thought provoking lecture entitled: “Good Leadership Counts” presented at the 1999 Kampala, Uganda Conference for Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA) focused on the imperative of strengthening internal security. He stated that the inter-related problems of security, stability and development must be solved through home grown methods.
This, dovetails to the need for the security architecture and apparatus to be made holistic to engender the trust in the people to see it as their own. With that they will be willing to divulge relevant information which security agencies should act on promptly without politicizing them. And with that in place, it would be easier for them to identify and mop up hundreds of thousands of small arms and ammunition hidden all over the country by prospective trouble shooters.
Besides, we should also do away with the persisting culture of impunity. The government should stop slapping perpetrators of evil with amnesty programs that insult the intelligence of their helpless victims. As Arewa Consultative Forum highlighted, this is the time to deal decisively with killers; to pay for their crimes against humanity instead of being cajoled by the powers that be. Only that would serve as a form of deterrence to others with similar evil inclinations.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang in the embattled Plateau State should not allow himself to be caught napping or his thoughts for a better and peaceful state beclouded by ethno-religious sentiments as was the case with some of his predecessors who sustained what we are witnessing today.
There are several devilishly claimed religious leaders parading the streets of Plateau that should be arrested and prosecuted for misusing the pulpit and podiums to fan the embers of hatred. One of such clowns known through his actions and preaching claims to be a Prophet while hiding his past antecedents needs public exposure by relevant security agencies.
A discreet investigation may expose his past as a disciple of the late devil, Muhammadu Marwa Maitatsine and now as a stationed disaster to Plateau State that should be seriously monitored and possibly disconnected from preaching a religion he knows nothing about.
He lost power in the authority after the defeat of his master’s sponsored gubernatorial candidate in 2015. He has been lost midstream since then but so desperate to breach the peace for recognition and return of business as usual. Injustice breeds violence that should be the watch word of any responsible government in Plateau State.
There was justice in Plateau State by successive governments as all were treated equally before the peace was disrupted by area boys and vagabonds in power. Late Police Commissioner Joseph Deshi Gomwalk, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, Fidelis Nanmi’apTapgun and Simon Bako Lalong were good and straight forward leaders who governed Plateau State with respect to all.
Simon Bako Lalong did his best for the return of lost glory but the blood thirsty beasts on the Plateau were not comfortable with his style of carrying all along.
Lalong resisted and ignored their advances and never for once subscribed to their evil plans until he exited power peacefully. Now, there is Barr Caleb Mutfwang who is running helter-skelter from pillar to post to bailout the state from the past unfortunate incidences that retarded progress. But the crisis seems to have returned in full swing with him having sleepless nights unjustifiably despite the efforts.
The devils are back to the trench thirsty for human blood to quench their eight-tear thirst. But with Governor Caleb applying the right prescribed balm with courage, the wounds may heal within a short period. If not, one has to pity the once peaceful and progressing state loved by all as the bastion of tourism and hospitality. A stitch in time saves nine! I come in Peace!
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
