It’s Plateau Again!!!

I condemn in its entirety such a barbarism which denies human life the sanctity that it ordinarily deserves. The killings further confirm the fear that if concerted efforts are not taken by both the citizenry and the state, we may be losing this precious thing we have in our hands called Nigeria.I know that several […]

I condemn in its entirety such a barbarism which denies human life the sanctity that it ordinarily deserves. The killings further confirm the fear that if concerted efforts are not taken by both the citizenry and the state, we may be losing this precious thing we have in our hands called Nigeria.
I know that several people are on a daily basis agitated about the being called Nigeria. People continue to question the rationale behind the nation’s existence and wonder why it should not be freely allowed to fracture into more meaningful manageable alliances so that peace and development could be achieved as against this random senselessness that has denied the nation any positive motion since independence in 1960.
It is this agitation that sends signals to foreign powers that indeed, Nigeria may not go beyond 2015 as a nation. This prognosis could be valid if placed against the backdrop of the continued onslaught on one another by peoples and groups especially in the northern part of the country. Agreed also that similar prognosis in the past about Nigeria failed to meet up to the expectations of those who made them, but one fact which we must make clear is that this country that we have is beautiful, it lacks very few things and that is why there is this confusion. Anytime leadership becomes real, Nigeria shall be pout of the woods.
It was Leon Uris, a novelist who once said that the reality of life is not greater until one holds death clutched tightly into his hands. That’s when one begins to see the importance and value of life. That statement is simply a prompter to everyone who desires to make maximum use of this life to treat every minute as very important and valuable.
When the crisis in Jos happened in January, we wrote like many other commentators to condemn the senselessness and at the same time remind government, especially the one in Rayfield, that it is its responsibility to protect life and property and to treat every citizen on equal footing and equally discourage the preponderance of the ugly nomenclature of indigene and settler. I thought that this battle has since been fought and won by most communities in Northern Nigeria; at least I am sure that in Kaduna State where I come from, that is almost part of our very history. In Zangon Kataf specifically, the crises of 1991 and the long way to its resolution through sincere state efforts have yielded the mush needed peace and reconciliation. We now live side by side with one another in peace and harmony. All our communities have seen the impact of this and are unlikely to change for the worst.
In 2000 and 2001 we saw very frightening revolts in Kaduna city and other places in the state. We saw death, anguish and destruction. We saw the worst side of human nature where the city was almost fractured along religious lines as far as settlement is concerned. We had people migrating from the north of the city to the south and vice versa. I saw hatred elevated to new levels.
What is most outstanding however is the fair, honest and frank political will deployed by the government of the state under Ahmed Makarfi and how very painfully the matter was resolved and today, Kaduna is a model in inter ethnic and inter religious relations. Little wonder it was when General Gowon, the father of modern Nigeria who incidentally is of the Plateau by origin but Kaduna by birth and association acknowledged the Kaduna formula and requested Jonah Jang and his government to hire Ahmed Makarfi or even Lawal Jafaru Isa so that he may learn the secrets of peaceful co existence.
The crisis on the Plateau continues to reoccur mainly due to poor handling by the elites and the government specifically. I have never seen in my life where a government official will come out in the heat of a ravaging conflict to begin to take sides with factions in the conflict. Governor Jang has done that consistently defending the actions and even atrocities of those he calls indigenes and the infractions of the settlers.
This poor trick is responsible for the deep feeling of hate that has continued to becloud the atmosphere in Jos and environs. Agreed that some people are indigenous to the area, but that fact is insufficient as to deny others whose ancestry in the last over one hundred years is also traced to the Plateau area. The aggression is further heightened by the partisan role which the south west press has adopted in understanding and reporting the crisis on the plateau.
The press from Lagos and Ibadan chose to be merely sensational and partisan in a crisis that they either are ill informed about or deliberately chose to close their eyes on the dynamics of such crisis and the implications on the social fabric of the nation.
Instead, the political and economic undertone of keeping the north in perpetual conflict which is the building blocks of an eventual south west domination of Nigerian politics became the focus of the press. Whatever is Hausa/Fulani, it is wrong. Whatever is minority or Christian is right and in the event of conflict and crisis such as this, the majority Hausa/Fulani are the aggressors.
Muhammed Haruna has graphically in his empirical manner captured this in his Wednesday column. He has shown how the January mass murder was either faintly reported or never reported at all and the immediate change of gear of pattern and degree of reportage when the ‘unwanted’ stock, the Fulanis were alleged to have sacked some Berom Villages. As I write this piece, the item, as dreadful and colossal as it was constitutes the major headlines of most south western papers.
In my view, this is dangerous because it flagrantly pitches people against one another. It shows in clear terms the visible hands of those who will continue to deny the nation the peace it desires to make any meaningful progress. The pattern of reporting may suite our immediate thirst and desire but definitely not in the overall interest of the nation and its peoples especially those that are on the battle field.
The reprisal killings in the Jos suburbs are condemnable and totally unacceptable. We must insist that those responsible for the mass murder in the villages where hundreds of settlers were killed in cold blood must equally be given the serious attention it deserves. Trying to treat the last Sunday episode as an isolated case will not do any good because the wounds wouldn’t just heal.
The Plateau state government must realize that it must be neutral and play the role of an independent arbiter in such conflicts and stop taking sides with either the indigenes or the settlers. Under the Nigerian constitution, the settlers have equal political rights and stakes just as the indigenes. Where the settlers are in the majority, the indigenes must learn to subordinate themselves to the representation of the settlers. That is the meaning of democracy and elections.
Unguarded statements typical of Plateau government officials is certainly endangering any possible means of fair resolution of the crisis. Nigeria belongs to us all. The merchants of death on the Plateau must realize that the earlier they live in peace with one another, the better for them all.
May God touch the hearts of all of us so we may live in peace and harmony.