The Du pond of death

The discovery by the Nigeria Army of an old mining pond near Jos where waylaid and killed travelers’ bodies are dumped has sent shock waves across this country. The pond was discovered at Dara in Du District of Jos South Local Government. It was found by an army search team that was looking for a […]

The discovery by the Nigeria Army of an old mining pond near Jos where waylaid and killed travelers’ bodies are dumped has sent shock waves across this country. The pond was discovered at Dara in Du District of Jos South Local Government. It was found by an army search team that was looking for a missing retired General.

Major General Idris Alkali, who recently retired as Chief of Administration at Army Headquarters in Abuja, was declared missing on September 3. He left Abuja in his personal Toyota car and was going to his farm in Bauchi State. He last contacted his family as he approached Jos, before he was declared missing. Army Chief of Staff Lt General Tukur Buratai then ordered a search operation jointly carried out by Operation Safe Haven and 3 Division Nigeria Army, Rukuba.

After  a thorough search and investigation, the Army said its men stumbled on intelligence that led to the pond. Remarkably, as the search was about to begin, an estimated 500 women from the community, dressed in black and some of them half-naked, staged a violent protest against the soldiers. They threw stones at them and some even attempted to wrestle weapons away from soldiers.

The women said their anger was that the military laid siege on their community. Their spokeswoman Mary Yakubu said the pond must not be disturbed in any way because it will lead to mysterious deaths and other misfortunes in the community. She said since the days of their forefathers, no one has tampered with the pond. This was blatant falsehood because the pond is an old mining pit that could not have dated back to the era she claimed. Considering what subsequently happened, cowardly criminally minded men in Du used the women in order to cover up the dastardly secrets of that pond.

Not surprisingly, when the army team drained the pond, they found the missing General’s car and some of his belongings, but not him or his remains. Four other cars were subsequently pulled out of the pond even though the draining work is still ongoing. Family members of other missing persons have since identified their vehicles, including a Gombe State Transport Corporation bus. Neither General Alkali’s nor the other missing persons’ remains were however found.

The inescapable conclusion from all these is that over several years, criminally-minded youths and others in the community waylaid travelers on the all-important Abuja to Bauchi highway, profiled them, killed them and drove their vehicles into the pond, as so-called reprisal attacks for other attacks in the surrounding community. It is impossible that this dastardly crime went on for years without the knowledge of the community leaders and in fact most members of the community. The youths who carried out those murders clearly had the collusion of many community members and leaders. We therefore fully support the Army’s pressing on with the search for the missing General and its demand that the killers must be turned over to it to answer for their deeds.

We are gratified that the army did not visit the Du community with the wrath it once unleashed on Odi, Bayelsa State and Zaki Biam, Benue State. The hypocritical protests sent to the Chief of Defence Staff by Berom community groups should be ignored. In fact, signatories to that so-called petition should be investigated for possible collusion in these murders. They should be ashamed of themselves for their vile attempt to cover up for these unspeakable crimes.

We again condemn all murders in the name of communal strife in Plateau State and all over Nigeria and urge the government and security agencies to end the bloodshed everywhere. Meanwhile, since evidence of cold-blooded murder has been found in Du, the perpetrators must be fished out and visited with stern justice. Hopefully it will deter other would-be highway murderers in the future.