Plateau Genocide: it will happen again, unless…

At a time when it was impossible for anyone but the perpetrators of that act of savagery to penetrate that enclave of barbarism, we managed to smuggle in a reporter into Yelwan Shendam through a risky but effective corridor. The reporter came back with more than a story: he brought back revelations about the total […]

At a time when it was impossible for anyone but the perpetrators of that act of savagery to penetrate that enclave of barbarism, we managed to smuggle in a reporter into Yelwan Shendam through a risky but effective corridor. The reporter came back with more than a story: he brought back revelations about the total lack of remorse from the perpetrators of that mayhem; in the commercial vehicle our reporter used to travel from Jos to Yelwa, he heard how those strange creatures recounted their exploits with relish; how they massacred their victims and how they looked forward to the next bloodbath that was sure to surpass the last one. We released what information we could in our newspaper and in the wider interest of peace, we concealed what was necessary.

Then we all waited to see what the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo would do. To the best of my recollection, it was the only time during which the former president acted in consonance with overwhelming public opinion; usually we went one way, and he went another. This time he sacked the wayward state Governor, Joshua Chibi Dariye by declaring a state of emergency in Plateau state and came down hard on those who tried to hide behind the cloak of religion, while in reality they were no more than bigots and accessories to mass murder.

At the time, many people felt no subsequent governor in plateau or any other state for that matter would ever again allow himself to fall into a situation similar to Dariye’s; perhaps, at least in plateau state, we’d seen the last of such callous disregard for life, especially that of women and children.

The tragic events of Friday, November 18 2008 in Jos, the Plateau state capital told us how wrong we were; and how naïve. What is most frighteningly sickening is that Jonah Jang, the Plateau state governor, a self-confessed ethnic jingoist and a man of such obvious bitter disposition is so comfortable with himself, in spite of everything.

About Jonah Jang, I believe Mohammed Haruna, in his characteristic manner, had said all there is to say in his column of last Wednesday, November 8. Even by his own standards it was a most succinct essay. I had sent him a text message after reading the piece with my compliments. But I also observed that he did not offer any suggestions to the Federal Government. When I enquired, he told me it was deliberate, but he did not say why; I could only surmise that perhaps like most people, he had grown tired, inevitably, of speaking to a brick wall.  Instead he had opted to present to the public a most vivid portrait of Mr. David Jonah Jang; Governor and chief security officer of a state that is turning out to be the most savage, unattractive, socially backward state in Nigeria. “Only in Nigeria” as Ishaq Modibba Kawu said while lamenting the tragedy with me last Thursday “can you have characters like Jang occupying such important and sensitive position of leadership”.

 This brings us to the kind of responsibility that the Yar’adua government must now shoulder. And what a huge and delicate responsibility it is too. Already Jang and his people, notably his commissioner of information, a certain Nuhu Gagara (I wonder if he is a relation to Major Gagara who was executed for his part in the 1976 coup against the Murtala regime); are behaving as if they had just won a major battle in a long drawn-out war they are determined to win. This, even while some of their victims languish in hospitals, refugee camps or huddle in their houses without basic necessities such as clean water; another abject failure of  such an incompetent an inept state administration.

The first obvious starting point for the Federal Government is of course to determine culpability. But that should be the easiest of its tasks; in any case knowing who the guilty party is has never been the problem when it comes to crises of this nature, whether in Plateau state or elsewhere. It is what governments do with the results of their investigations that have always been the bane of handling such issues effectively. We might well ask: this being the fifth of such ugly, animal behavior emanating from Plateau state, what has been the result of previous investigations? Answer: another uglier mayhem.

The Yar’adua government must avoid being tagged with this type of tragic stereotype. Whether he rules for another two months, two years or six years, he owes it to humanity to ensure that not only that another Genocide does not happen under his watch, but that he is able to provide a permanent solution, no matter what it would take, which would outlive him.

This means that determining what constitutes a permanent solution is the first, most crucial task of the Yar’adua regime. For Jang and those who share his dark view of humanity, a permanent solution is for the Hausa-Fulani, who have lived in Jos and its environs for over 200 years, to pack their things and leave. Period! Otherwise they should either stay as slaves; or risked being butchered periodically.

Clearly this is not even feasible, and therefore not an option worthy of any attention. For the Hausa-Fulani and Muslims in Plateau, a permanent solution is a guaranty of their fundamental rights so that their children can grow up unfettered, unmolested, so that they can vote and be voted for, so that they can buy and sell freely; but most importantly so that when they go to bed at night—especially Thursday nights—they could sleep soundly and peacefully like other Nigerians everywhere else; their only fear being that of Armed robbers—again like other Nigerians.

Can the Federal Government do this? It must, otherwise it should consider itself a failure no matter what successes it is able to achieve elsewhere.

There are no two ways about it; this would necessitate the creation of another state from the present Plateau state! And such new state, no matter what permutations and gerrymandering formula are employed, must include either all of Jos North, or that part of it where the Hausa-Fulani and Muslims have a majority. In the past, newspaper articles such as this one have been written; political speeches had been made; assurances and promises have been made. But in the end they have always failed to stop another more gruesome round of mindless violence. Nigeria and Nigerians have failed the victims of the Plateau Genocide too many times in the past; they should accept no more promises!