My intention deserves objective understanding even by the most jaundiced reader of this piece. It is primarily to draw the attention of both the Federal and Plateau State governments to do the needful at this critical stage of the ongoing killings in Plateau State, which seems to have defied past solutions.
Truth must be told!
As democratic governments, they ought to endure the rigors and dig deep down into the remote cause(s) of the crisis bedeviling the state and the motives that first ignited the violence in 2001 not mere blame game.
I have never subscribed to violence or hate. I love and cherish peaceful coexistence within the dictates of extant laws. What is happening in Plateau State is not pleasant even to polluted minds. But that shouldn’t be an excuse from exposing the truth for lasting solution to the precarious situation.
One basic fact natives of Plateau State tend to forget or ignore is that Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, irrespective of imaginary differences. No one has the right to deny any Nigerian the right to reside and own property in any part of the country under any guise unless otherwise.
In the Plateau State of today, Hausa/Fulani Muslims, whose grandfathers were born and brought up in some parts of the state, are victims of different styles of discrimination in virtually all aspects of governance. When native terrorists wage an attack against Fulani, the government turns blind until when the attacked wages revenge it attracts attention.
That is a fact!
Despite the Constitutional provision that gives them the inalienable right as indigenes, they are denied that right and all benefits attached. Even building plans seeking approval in government ministry are denied, not to talk of Certificate of Occupancy or admission into state government owned tertiary institutions built with the sweat of their forefathers and fathers or state scholarship and employment.
In the 60s, 70s and 80s, Plateau State was Nigeria’s Home of Peace and Hospitality. It was a state loved by many for its hospitality, weather, location, vegetation, mining activities and presence of federal government establishments such as the famous National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, Federal College of Soil Conservation, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), National Institute for Tryposonomiasis Research (NITR), National Crops Research Institute and later, the establishment of the National Institute for Policies and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) among others. It was a beautiful and bubbling place for research, business, tourism and leisure. It could package peace for sale that sprouted in every backyard like wild grass.
Peace, love and unity were in abundance for everybody to enjoy. Hardly could one differentiate adherents of religions or tribes. Plateau had genuine religious, tribal and political leaders that behaved and meant well. There was respect and equal distribution of everything including government scholarship, infrastructural development, recruitment to public establishments etc. It was home away from home to even strangers on a stopover to enjoy the cool weather and exotic fruits of a paradise on earth.
Suddenly, in 2001 the situation started changing on arrival of religious pretenders, hypocrites and ethno-religious jingoists at the political scene who wrested power to abuse and disfigure the state for selfish interest. Some of them pretended and claimed to be more Catholic than the Pope.
Before Nasarawa State was curved out of Plateau State, there was no issue of land grabbing for ethnic cleansing or marginalizing Muslims. It was a peaceful and united state. Hausa/Fulani were not seen as settlers in parts of Plateau State and there was no contraption called Indigenous Muslims in the absence of Indigenous Christians and Pagans.
After Nasarawa State was curved out in 1996, it turned out to be a ‘golden’ opportunity for satanic agents to execute their hidden plan of ethnic cleansing hatched and brought to the front-burner accompanied with very dangerous mission not minding the aftermath against a selected few which we are sadly witnessing today.
Myopically, the devils believed they had the numerical strength and wherewithal to win the battle at the first shot by chasing out and confiscating the properties of their perceived enemies resident in their midst. They misfired!
The first crisis erupted in 2001 under the governance of Joshua Dariye, supposedly, a foot-soldier of the Boys Brigade Movement and steadily it spread to virtually all the 17 local government areas of the state in pursuance of a long time plan targeted at a selected few under the guise of land grabbing.
Certain category of people were tagged settlers in places they founded and inhabited for over centuries and labored to develop while the natives, courtesy of white missionaries, migrated from caves, thick forests and sparsely populated villages to urban areas searching for greener pasture bragged in emptiness as indigenous people of the state and rightful owners of lands founded by others.
The mischievous issue of land grabbing spiced with ethno-religious sentiment earlier planned to hijack legally acquired lands from continuous hold took the centre stage. Those so-called settlers targeted for attacks were neither on borrowed, hired or mortgaged lands, but on legally acquired targeted for attacks to claim same lands forcefully. Another case for trouble!
The possibility of claiming land as a strategy was first mooted in early 80s by a tribal organization, Berom Educational Cultural Organization (BECO) through a press statement issued by the then Gwom Chomo of Berom land, Dr Alexander Davou Fom. The statement was targeted at those tagged as settlers including Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Itsekiri, Anang, Kalabari, Ishan, Efik, Ekwerre, Ijaw, Ibibio, etc who owned vast lands and mining pits as great employers of labor in mining fields, economic and social contributors to the development of the state.
For instance, the popular Terminus market at the centre of Jos was named after Terminus hotel built by the late Soun of Ogbomosho Oyewumi. Other renowned entrepreneurs in Jos were David Lade Akanji, Chief Olagbemiro, Raji Bakeries etc
But, during systematic piecemeal execution of the plan, those who shared same faith with the attackers were exempted. It was only the Hausa/Fulani Muslims who resisted the attacks that became main targets and the situation remains worrisome till today.
For the records, before the coming of Europeans to Plateau State, particularly Jos, there were Hausa/Fulani who had their Zango (base) at the present location of Jos main market with their full and functional administrative structure put-in-place. The so called indigenes were nowhere to be found then.
Hausa/Fulani had their Chief (Sarki), Bunu who resided at Narkuta. Upon the death of Sarki Bunu in Narkuta not Naraguta as pronounced today, Sarki Barde who succeeded him, rejected to reside at the Narkuta official palace but chose to move eastward and founded the present Jos town. Sarki Barde’s palace and mosque are still standing at Sarki Street, Jos not far from the burnt Jos main market.
The six major wards constituting the then area called Jos native town by the colonialists were; Ali Kazaure, Abba Na Shehu, Garba Daho, Ibrahim Katsina, Sarkin Arab and Gangare all Hausa names till date.
A look at the genesis of the December 23, 2023 attacks on Bokkos, Bassa, Barikin Ladi areas and other attacks including the gruesome murders of innocent passersby through Berom lands, although painful and very unfortunate, deserves an in-depth investigation to authenticate the truth of who first ignited the crisis and why. If that is not discreetly done, I doubt the possibility of peace returning to the embattled state other than the continuous window dressing by government.
In its statement on the Bokkos crisis, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Plateau State Council said 18 cows of their members were rustled in December 2023 by the host communities, which was reported to the police and the traditional ruler of the community. The stolen cows were later located and identified in custody of some natives.
A cowboy was dispatched to retrieve the rustled cows from the thieves but the rustlers resisted and the cowboy gruesomely murdered.
Not satisfied with the barbaric act, Fulani rural settlements were attacked and set on fire for attempting to retrieve their stolen cows. This was the genesis of the Bokkos massacre on the eve of Christmas in 2023. Let the truth be told!
Since the occurrence of the December massacre, Plateau State Government never deemed it imperative to issue a convincing statement on the genesis of the crisis but said that there was No Provocation from those attacked. That cannot be the objective truth. Let the truth be told!
What is undisputable, however, is that the attacks were motivated not triggered by any religious sentiment as religious bigots may say, despite the endemicity of that factor in the state. Some observers believe the attacks were motivated by economic factors relating to expropriation of mineral deposits interwoven with pure ethnic cleansing. That’s not true!
But from contents of the disseminated video recording of the attacks on social media platforms, many observers had suspected something more politically sinister than said. The genesis for creating a state-owned security outfit by the Jonah Jang administration, Operation Rainbow, and training of 300 recruits in faraway Israel was clear to all, including the composition of the security outfit. The Interventions of that security outfit in times of crisis is always one-sided in support of the natives and must be brought under investigation or else, future casualties may be unimaginable as Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and other ethnic groups not in the good books of government have lost trust in anything Operation Rainbow for its suspected bias stance.
Several of the attacks were sugar-coated and shrouded in secrecy for a mischievous mission by those concerned but it had nothing to do with land grabbing as portrayed and claimed. How can the minority (Fulani) within those embattled areas forcefully grab lands of the majority and still reside in those areas in peace? That is not believable and feasible!
Legally acquired landed property by buyers located in Berom and other native lands hitherto owned by foreign mining companies were forcefully taken over by ethnic militia groups and legitimate owners murdered or escaped by the whiskers. Such cases are uncountable in several parts of Plateau State that is now embattled. No living soul can forcefully eject one from a legally acquired property and still expect to have peace as a reward. That’s the truth!
Whatever were the motives, it is now glaringly clear that the so-called settlers targeted for ethnic cleansing cannot be forcefully pushed away from their legitimately acquired lands. They can be forced out temporally but definitely a reprisal action should not be ruled out as part of human nature. That is the bitter truth!
Federal and State governments should partner to proffer lasting solution to the festering crisis before Plateau State keels over. No living soul can deny the so called settlers access to their legally acquired lands and still expect peace. Even the government that owns the lands by military decree of 1978 offers compensation to acquire lands for developmental purposes from individuals and groups.
Now, until the factors predisposing Plateau State to the ferocious crisis are sincerely identified and holistically addressed, solutions will continue to prove elusive as no one possesses any monopoly of violence. Those who ignited the crisis in 2001 and suspiciously supported to flourish by successive governments should be brought to justice as the first step towards peace while compensation, be paid to those whose properties were forcefully taken over in several parts of the state.
Few religious leaders, including the voluble, generally insensitive and confused self-ordained prophet Isa El-Buba, had the courage, guts and even temerity in 2023 to issue a 72-hour ultimatum to government over the Bokkos and Mangu crisis. What Isa El-Buba thinks he is in the scheme of things even in Christianity, remains an illusion, infantile, a mockery of religion and laughable. The self-ordained prophet must be living in a world of self-deceit, parochialism and illusion.
When responsible and respected people of substance talk and call for peace, the Isa El-Buba’s of this world are always on the side of violence. After all, does he have any stake in Plateau State? Is he not one of the land grabbers referred to by the marauding natives as a settler from Borno State?
Killing the attackers, whom El-Buba carelessly appropriated into enemies of the indigenes by his own usual logic, remains counterproductive unless he agrees to lead the battle to the comfort zone of the killers. If he wants his people and pay masters to take him serious, let him be bold to lead a team of his followers, supporters and volunteers for a battle at the identified comfort zone of the said killers. We are ever ready to support and encourage him to embark on such an adventure while we curiously watch on a distance fence for the end result. Anything short of that from the self-ordained prophet amounts to nuisance and ego seeking for pecuniary gain.
The crisis has alas, morphed considerably into something more complex, catastrophic, political and subversive. The attacks, complete with gory video disseminated on social media, shows how complicated the problem has transformed underneath for poor and insincere handling by the past and inherited by the present governor.
The country, if care is not taken, may be engulfed in chaos against suspicion that the conflicts are inspired and catalyzed by hidden powerful sponsors from both sides. The recent and past attacks by the warring factions are in most cases without tangible or justifiable reasons other than ethnic-cleansing, resistance, cattle rustling, cattle poising and forceful ejection from legally acquired lands.
Some of the attacks by suspected Fulani herders to say the least were targeted at communities suspected for cattle rustling/poisoning, burning to ashes Fulani herdsmen settlements and inbuilt hate.
The communities experienced coordinated attacks targeted at wiping them entirely from the surface of the earth probably by combined efforts of internal and external warriors in a manner that left security agencies flat-footed. It is now the job of the political leadership in Plateau State to know how best to address the lingering security challenge for return of peace although, the state governor has directed the option of self defence which may cause more breaches of the peace.
Self-defense as directed is a ‘good’ option, as security is everybody’s business, but how can one defend himself with bare hands, inferior fighting tools, when attacked by a superior number of well-armed attackers?
Let’s put it at the back of our minds that, from deep knowledge of the Fulani, they can invite their kith and kin from neighboring states and beyond if offended for a battle on their behalf which can wipe out the entire Plateau State in matter of hours due to their numerical strength, deep knowledge of the various environments and fighting skills.
In my opinion, before the situation snowballs to catastrophe, Plateau State Government in conjunction with the Federal Government should appoint a powerful Reconciliation Committee to reach out to the aggrieved, agree to pay compensation for destroyed settlements, forcefully commandeered properties from legitimate owners scattered all over the state, destroyed farmlands and rustled/killed cows and establish cattle colonies within its mountainous areas to appease the marauding herders as option.
The Committee in my opinion should be chaired by HRH the Emir of Wase being Fulani by extraction and chairman of Jama’atu Nasril Islam Plateau State Council and co-chaired by the Long Goemai. Other members should include; representatives of the National Security Advisor (NSA), Nigerian Army (OPSH), Nigeria Police, State Security Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), members House of Representatives from Wase, Mangu/Bokkos, Jos North/Bassa, Jos East/Jos South/ Riyom and Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam.
Other members should include; representatives of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), National Veterinary Research Institute Vom (NVRI), Federal Ministry for Livestock Development and Local Government Council Chairmen of Jos North, Mangu, Bokkos, Bassa, Wase, Pankshin, Kanke, Kanam, Jos South, Jos East and Riyom as well as two representatives of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Plateau State Council Correspondents Chapel (one from the print media and one from the electronic media (NTA) for objectivity and daily reports of committee sitting/activities for public assessment.
Honestly, if there is a next crisis time, someone must be held responsible, unlike the practice inherited. More importantly, it is now the responsibility of the governor to sincerely reappraise reforms and partner with the federal government to retool the security architecture on ground to respond more spontaneously to attacks most especially at odd hours excluding the suspected biased Operation Rainbow that has lost confidence and trust of the people and should either be restructured or scrapped.
How could a gang of thieves rustle and poison cows, maim and kill the owners, burn down their settlements, and withdraw from the crime scene without notice or pursued to their hideouts and yet dream of living in peace? When that was later discovered, it became a problem that sniffed lives out of the owners. Was the crime not well collaborated and coordinated by the criminals? Were the offended Fulani herders expected to accommodate and subscribe to such barbarism and unwholesome behavior? What happened to those murderers in Gada biyu, Algadama, Alheri, Kabong, Jentan Adamu, Tudun Wada, Busa Buji, Rikkos, Kongo, West of Mines, Bukuru, Gyel, Kerena, Anguldi, Mararraban Jema’a, Kuru, Ta-Hoss, Vom, Riyom, Dura-Du, Foron, Bisichi, Turu, Panyam, Heipang etc who sacked and commandeered properties of their victims in a state with a seating government and a justice system that not even an apology was offered to please the victims not to talk of succor from the state or federal government?
Governor Mutfwang has a herculean task at hand to accomplish with absolute caution, sincerity and expertise. He needs to revisit his governing policies to accommodate all irrespective of any imaginary difference. The state, particularly Jos and Bukuru like other bubbling Nigerian cities are cosmopolitan beyond any claim of ownership or discrimination. They have outgrown any claim beyond imagination. There should be no attempt by any right thinking person, group or whosoever to change the status quo if peace is dear to all. Other towns such as Pankshin, Mangu, Dengi, Wase, Kurgwi and Yelwan Shendam are steadily attaining cosmopolitan status due to improved economic activities that attracts investors from outside in trade, commerce, agriculture and mining.
I Come In Peace!
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
