Why women rose against soldiers in Jos
With the Jos crises defying solution, it seems another curious dimension had been added to it as women who ought to rejoice at the latest reinforcement of military muscle are demanding that the Special Task Force (STF) created to quell the crises be withdrawn. Although the military has been on the Plateau since the 2001 […]
With the Jos crises defying solution, it seems another curious dimension had been added to it as women who ought to rejoice at the latest reinforcement of military muscle are demanding that the Special Task Force (STF) created to quell the crises be withdrawn. Although the military has been on the Plateau since the 2001 crisis, their presence was more felt when several troops were deployed to quell the November, 2008 post-elections crises that engulfed the state after the local government elections of that year.
Their presence became permanent when the STF was set up last year with the mandate to restore peace to the troubled North-Central state. As it is, peace is far from returning to the once-peaceful state. Their presence, according to many observers, brought succour to residents of the state as some measure of peace was restored in their early days of arrival in January.
However, the recent attacks on some villages and the unabated killings among the people has the STF mired in controversy. The Brigadier General Hassan Umaru-led task force has been severally accused of turning a blind eye while innocent citizens are being killed in their homes. His predecessor, Major General Sale Maina, who doubled as the Commander of the STF and General Officer Commanding 3rd Armoured Division, Jos, had also been criticised especially after the Dogo Na Hauwa attack which claimed hundreds of lives.
The reshuffle at the top echelons of the military across the country eventually culminated in Maina’s transfer to the Defence Headquarters and General Umaru was brought to only serve as the Commander of the STF. Major-General Sunday Idoko now heads the 3rd Armoured Division and the STF was saddled with all responsibility of security.
The first litmus tests for General Umaru were the multiple bomb blasts that rocked Jos and the subsequent reprisal attacks that followed in some parts of the state. After that, were the skirmishes, unprovoked attacks on Fulanis and cattle-rustling in some surrounding local government areas bordering Jos to the South, which led to counter-attacks in these areas.
Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Abdulrahaman Akano, said the attacks were prompted by the rustling of over 100 cows belonging to Fulani herdsmen in the area, but the secretary of the Miyetti Allah, Sale Bayari, said over 8,000 cows have been gored. The attacks prompted the women to challenge the STF troops demanding their withdrawal. Their grouse is that the soldiers were present when the attacks were going on, but turned a blind eye.
According to Ngo Tabitha Joshua Alli, chairman of the women traders in the state who led last week’s protest, the women on the Plateau are tired of the recurrent crises in the state where their husbands and children are being killed. “People die every day. People are being attacked in villages and towns. The situation now is that Muslims cannot pass through Christian areas and likewise Christians cannot pass through Muslim areas. That is not how it used to be. This has become worrisome. We are mothers, we know how it feels to lose someone. You will find out that a young man who has finished school will be killed and sometimes you can’t even find his corpse. Yet, we have soldiers on ground. That is one of the reasons why we don’t trust the soldiers with our lives anymore,” she lamented.
She said they are relying on God to protect them, saying the newly deployed soldiers will meet a stiff resistance, too, if they behave the way the former ones did. Ngo Alli who commended Muslim women who staged a similar protest, also added that, “It is our dream that one day, we will go out together and tell the world that enough is enough.”
The Muslim women also embarked on a similar protest against incessant and unending crisis in Jos. Hajiya Khadijah Gambo Hawaja, like Ngo Alli, who led hundreds of Muslim women through the streets of Jos said the Muslim community is tired of attacks on its populace where they lost over 1,000 people among whom are women and children. “Since the 2008 post-election crises in Jos, Governor Jonah Jang has been running the state as if Muslims do not exist in the state. He has closed all his doors on us. We, the Muslims have been totally neglected in the scheme of things. Roads are very bad, no pipe-borne water and we have no access to government hospitals. As if this neglect is not bad enough, we now conclusively believe Plateau State is behind the killing of our husbands and children as well as the destruction on a daily basis of our hard-earned property,’ she said.
Hawaja continued: “We feel as mothers, wives and sisters, enough is enough. Our sisters from the Christian communities are also complaining, this shows that nobody is benefiting from the crises. President Goodluck Jonathan must stop the killings going on in Jos and environs,” she lamented.
But the Plateau State government has denied marginalizing any group in the state, saying development is gradual. Commissioner for Information and Communications, Gregory Yenlong, told Weekly Trust that no responsible government will sponsor crises in a state it is ruling, pointing out that the state government is ever ready to listen to suggestions from groups.
Adding their voice to the call for the withdrawal of soldiers in the state was the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations which decried the way soldiers operate in the state. The CSO’s spokesperson, Comrade Gad Pete, called for the replacement of the Specials Task Force with a special mobile police following last week’s clash with students and soldiers. He further called for the beefing up of the security along all routes leading to the university campus.
Reacting to the call for the withdrawal of the troops, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General O. Ihejirika said such pronouncements and misinformation can cause wrong impressions in the minds of the people. He, however, assured that any soldier found wanting will be disciplined, while calling on people of the state to sheathe their swords and embrace peace.
However, the question on many lips of many residents is whether there will be change in the mode of operation by the STF members, especially with the deployment of more troops? According to General Ihejirika, the new troops are going to be using minimal force, stressing that the army will not tolerate religious or ethnic bias from any of the officers.
He told the new troops that, “We are not going to leave you in Jos for a long time, you are going to be rotated again after a while. But for the period you are there, you have to do your job professionally. I will not tolerate any form of religious bias or ethnic bias in carrying out your job. I’m sure all these have been emphasized during the training,” he warned.
Ihijerika said the soldiers have fared well. “If not, the situation would have been different. There are situations that have been saved even within the past week. Soldiers have responded to attacks; and from the arms recovered, they have done well. They have recovered several quantities of AK 47 rifles in the last one week and other dangerous weapons being used by all the warring factions.”
But Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), through its national secretary, Alhaji Sale Bayari, warned of the danger the withdrawal of troops posed. “Any attempt, as is it being done, to ridicule the members of the STF, with a view to withdrawing them will usher in anarchy in Jos and its environs,” he warned.