Short of declaring a state-of-emergency in Plateau State, President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, to take full charge of the security situation in the state with immediate effect. The President is also due to meet with Governor Jonah Jang on the Plateau crises on Tuesday (today).
Jos, the state capital, and neighbouring communities have been in the throes of mindless killings as a result of violent clashes between the state’s two major ethnic group, the Berom and the Fulanis. Our correspondents report that over 90 persons have been killed since the renewed clashes began over a week ago.www.mannastores.com
The President’s directive followed on the heels of Sunday’s twin bomb explosions in Jos. In a statement the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, quoted Jonathan as saying that the order was in keeping with his resolve to ensure the full security of lives and property across the country.
The statement reads, “In keeping with his avowed resolve to ensure the full security of lives and property across the country, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Monday in Abuja directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petinrin to take full charge of the security situation in Plateau State immediately and take all necessary actions to stop the recent spate of killings in the state.
“Following a meeting of the National Security Council, President Jonathan also directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Pius Anyim Pius, to bring up all pending reports by recent committees set up by the Federal Government on the Plateau for immediate review and implementation.
“President Jonathan who is scheduled to meet with the Plateau State Governor, Chief Jonah Jang, tomorrow, further directed the National Emergency Management Agency to take prompt action to address the plight of the internally displaced persons in Plateau State.
Plateau which answers to the sobriquet, ‘Home of Peace and Tourism,’ has featured in the news as a theatre of killings since the outset of democracy in 1999. In 2004, following a series of clashes among the warring groups in the state and fearing that the crises could spread to other parts of the country, former President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a six-month state of emergency on the state. Obasanjo announced the measure on May 18, 2004 in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Middle Belt People on Monday said the Northern Governor Forum lacked the will to put an end to the crises in the North, especially in Plateau State. While Plateau in the North-Central is embroiled in ethno-religious violence, the North-East is reeling under terrorist attacks orchestrated by the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Coordinator of the FMBP, Mr. Manasseh Watyil, said the forum’s efforts to bring an end to the crises in Jos would not yield positive results because of the Northern leaders’ agenda to see the entire country as a Northern estate.”
Watyil, who spoke to our correspondent in Jos on Monday, accused “Northern leaders” of turning Plateau into a battlefield in the desire to execute their agenda.
He also accused members of the Special Task Force deployed in the state to bring the violence under control as participating in the killings in the state. He said the task force soldiers should be withdrawn to pave way for the “Operation Rainbow” team to take over. Operation Rainbow is a coalition of regular and mobile policemen, and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Watyil said, “In the special edition of a newspaper (names withheld) an article entitled, ‘Plight of the North: 2011 and Beyond’, the map in that article clearly identifies the area regarded as the North and this excluded the entire Middle-Belt region and Abuja.
“So, even if security is going to be the agenda of the NGF, whatever resolution will be spineless because they have an agenda already set for them by their forbearers and this is to conquer the whole of the Middle Belt with Plateau as the battlefield. After all, they had met once in Jos on the same Plateau problem and nothing was done about it.
“And it will be very difficult to solve these problems unless there are concerted efforts from all concerned. For the NGF, the agenda I want to set for them is to view with seriousness the issue of trans-state banditry. If they can stop hoodlums crossing from one state to attack another state, then we will be nearer to solving the problem.”
In a related development, the Chairman of the Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, aka Miyetti Allah, Mallam Nur Mohammed, has said that the association is capable of curbing the incessant killings in Plateau villages.
Mohammed, who spoke to our correspondent in an interview in Jos on Monday, maintained that the killings were not perpetrated by his association but by some nomadic Fulani whose kith had been killed.
Mohammed said, “What the Fulani is suffering is a cumulative effect of the struggle for Jos North. We are not part of that agitation, but each time there is a problem in Jos North, our people will be killed and their cows stolen.”
He said that Fulani had been chased out of Berom land, except at the fringes of the area around Jos South and Bokkos, especially around Kura Falls, adding, “You notice that in those areas, nobody is being attacked.”
He said, “We have said that these killings are not caused by our Fulani cattlemen. There are nomadic Fulani who pass by and as you know we have Fulani all over the continent who are not members of our association, but we can identify them if we are consulted because there are peculiarities in our mode of dressing and even tongues.”
