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Tag: Plateau

  • Plateau: 10 die, four suspects held as gunmen strike again

    Troops move base

    State Police Bill coming

    No  fewer than 10 perons died at the weekend in two attacks in Plateau State.

    The attacks in Mangu and Barkin Ladi local governments have forced the special military task force Operation Safe Haven to move its headquarters to Barkin Ladi to end the killings.

    Six persons died in the Saturday night attack in Mangu. Four died early yesterday in the Barkin Ladi incident.

    The attacks followed those of June 23 when scores died.

    Confirming the continuous killings despite the curfew and heavy military presence, the media officer of the task force, Major Adam Umar, said: “The OPSH notes with dismay the continued attitude of some criminals in the state that are bent on making the state ungovernable through some unwarranted attacks on some communities and innocent villagers despite the tireless efforts of the task force.

    “We regret to say that about 0300 hours Sunday morning of 1st July, our men at Dorowa received a distress call from a resident of Mararaban Kantoma of Barkin Ladi Local Government that they were under attack by some armed bandits.

    “On receiving the distress call, our men mobilised to the scene immediately to repel the attackers. The assailants who were given hot chase by our men escaped with various degrees of injuries while four of them were arrested.

    “However, It is regrettable that before our men could get to the scene of the attack, four persons had already been killed by the attackers.

    “Consequently, in its avowed commitment to ensuring that the renewed attacks are promptly brought to an end, the commander of the task force, Major General Anthony Atolagbe, has relocated the headquarters of the task force from Jos to Barkin Ladi.

    “The Commander has also relocated with all his principal officers to the epicenter of the renewed attacks. To this end, the commander will be coordinating the day-to-day running of the task force from the new operational headquarters in Barkin Ladi.

    “We wish to call on citizens of the state especially the residents of Barkin Ladi Local Government, to continue to have faith in the operations. We are fully on ground to continue to discharge our duties of protecting everybody in the state and we remain resolute to achieving our mandate in the state.

    “We therefore use this opportunity to warn any criminal making or planning to make life miserable for innocent citizens to desist from the act forthwith.”

     

  • Plateau youths demand for more troops

    More troops, more surveillance helicopters, more operational vehicles and other logistics support are needed in Plateau State to sustain the relative peace that has returned to the troubled state in the past few days, a youth group based in Plateau state pleaded with the Defence Headquarters.
    The group however lauded the Chef of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin for ordering the immediate deployment of Special Forces to Plateau State following the invasion of 11 villages in three local governments by yet to be identified militia men.
    Acting under the aegis of Association of Concerned Plateau  Indigenous  Youths  Group, it called on the military high command to do more in the areas of manpower release , more surveillance helicopters, operational vehicles and power bikes to the military task force known as Operation Safe Haven.
    In a statement, the group said its appeal to the DHQ was necessitated by the difficult terrain in Plateau State, especially the crisis prone areas where it noted troops of the military task force were finding it difficult to penetrate.
    According to the statement signed by the convener of the group, Prince Rotdunna Ibn Sekat and Secretary, Dr Pam Davou, the youth group warned political actors against politicizing the crisis in the state.
    It advised  them to avoid blame games and work together for a quick and peaceful resolution of the unfortunate development.
    The statement reads in part : “We  are particularly worried with the attitude of political players in the state who are making desperate attempts to politicize our current misfortune.
    “This unfortunate development has been demonstrated in the recent mixed crowds that stage protest at the government house, obviously to embarrass the government of Plateau state thus threatening our national security and mutual coexistence.
    “We are saddened and worried that in times of trouble such as this,  where  political players are expected to rally around authorities to find a lasting solution,  it is rather paradoxically nauseating for some people to seek negative political gains out of our common misfortune.
    “We are determined to note that,  politics is not practicable in the face of glaring insecurity,  hence it behooves on political players to ensure that peace remains the foundation of our state.
    “The state of Plateau belongs to all of us,  as opposed to the notion that it belongs to a particular individual,  government,  political party,  religion or group of persons.  It is in appreciation of this fact that we are assembled here to encourage and chastise accordingly going forward.
    “It is the considered view of the organization that,  we would not live any stone unturned to expose the roots of every known source or agent of destabilization on the Plateau.
    ” It is our resolve to keep plateau state one and united both now and in future,  and this,  we will do with every instrument at our disposal until peace and stability returns to our villages.”

  • Plateau killings and executive helplessness

    Too much is often made of how powerful the office of the Nigerian president is. With the stroke of the pen he can make a raft of appointments and sign off on multi-billion dollar contracts. He is the commander-in-chief of all manner of forces – those visible in public as well as those whose domain is the clandestine.

    But nowhere is the limitation of the power of this grand office more apparent than when extreme security challenges arise. While we expect that the president would with an executive magical wand cause the troubles to cease, all he can deliver at those critical points are mere platitudes and promises of deliverance.

    He may issue commands but they only produce effect where there is proper execution in theatre of conflict and where the people and local communities buy into whatever solutions he is proffering.

    We saw this play out repeatedly in the run-up to the 2015 general elections. As Boko Haram ramped up its attacks in major northern cities and seized many local government areas in the Northeast, the security gave the impression that they were running around like headless chickens.

    Every new attack only produced hollow-sounding ‘tough’ from the beleaguered presidency. While then President Goodluck Jonathan gave the impression that he was doing his absolute best to deal with a nightmare that was threatening to unseat him, there was ample evidence that many of those who were supposed to be carrying out his orders on the frontlines were demotivated from fighting the energised and emboldened insurgents. The upshot was that the occupant of such a powerful position simply came across as spineless and clueless.

    His inability to deal with the Boko Haram security crisis was a God-sent campaign gift to the opposition who were then able to sell General Muhammadu Buhari as a credible alternative whose military background supposedly put him in better shape to deal with the insurgency.

    While Buhari has achieved a fair amount of success in containing the insurgents in the Northeast, under him the security challenge has mutated. The horrific herdsmen-farmer clashes across the Middle-Belt and in some southern states should definitely terrify leading lights of the administration.

    Again, as was the case with the previous administration dealings with Boko Haram, we see the same measure of executive helplessness. Every new attack is followed by the same standard words of condemnation and empathy. Senior government officials, and in this instance in Plateau the president calls to share in the grief of the people.

    Each time we hear of vows to bring the perpetrators to justice but we are hardly able to hold up a long list of those who have hung from the gallows because of the atrocities.

    The crisis of the current killings is even more depressing because of the confusion and contradictions obvious in the highest levels of government. On the one hand you have people like the Minister of Defence, Dan Ali, insisting that the problem would not abate unless anti-open grazing legislation in places like Benue State are repealed, at other times you hear the president blaming political actors who are determined to unseat him.

    Ali’s position suggests that herdsmen aggrieved over the loss of cattle are complicit in the conflict. Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has never hidden the fact that he holds elements of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association responsible.

    Beyond these two suspects, I have not heard of any other force being accused of promoting the killings. Although, we may add the so-called herders who were supposedly militants armed during the Libyan national war who have now found other nefarious work devastating unarmed communities in the heart of Nigeria.

    So, clearly, the suspects can be isolated. What Nigerians find so frustrating is that given the resources of the supposedly all-powerful presidency, none of these groups has been brought to heel.

    President Buhari misses it when he wastes time trying to absolve himself personally. What people are expecting is that he would deploy the extraordinary resources of his office to deal with the situation in a way his predecessor failed to do with Boko Haram.

    If herdsmen are the problem, what credible solution that has the buy-in of all parties is on the table? Cattle colonies and other ideas will not immediately curtail the savage killings that are going on.

    If politicians are driving the murders in order to discredit his administration why haven’t there been any arrests or prosecutions to back up his accusations and deter other such criminals in agbada?

    Now, we have the promise that the president wants to reorganise the security agencies to prevent a recurrence of last weekend’s killings in Plateau. Buhari obviously has to take some sort of action to contain what is spiralling dangerously into an unprecedented sectarian and ethnic conflict. All patriots should support that effort.

    However, any new security arrangement that doesn’t deal with root causes of this problem would only be dealing with the symptoms – bringing it back to square one.

  • …agencies probe alleged sabotage

    Following killing of more than 86 people in Plateau State, there were indications that the Nigeria Police Force and security agencies were suspecting alleged sabotage by some disgruntled elements.

    Some clues were also said to have pointed to subterranean motives, including likely political tone,  beyond the herdsmen factor.

    It was also learnt that the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has asked his deputy, DIG Joshack Habilla, to stay put in the state to get to the root of the killings.

    According to a top security source, who spoke in confidence, President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a “comprehensive probe of the killings” to avert a reoccurrence in any part of the country.

    The source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Some of the clues obtained by the Police and security agencies have traces of suspected sabotage by some elements. We have a mandate from the President to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the killings.

    “So far, apart from the killings in some of the affected villages, some victims included travellers and innocent ones who were caught in the crossfire.

    “We are not only looking at the alleged invasion of the villages by herdsmen, we want to probe other factors which may cover likely political and religious angles.

    “The security profile of Plateau State in the last three years did not give hints of likely breaches, a development which has fuelled suspicion of sabotage. There had been relative peace in the state.

    “We will do our best to unmask the perpetrators of the dastardly killings.”

    Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for thorough investigations and fair trial of those responsible for the violence.

    A statement by Africa Director of HRW, Mausi Segun, said:  “The carnage in Plateau State is a clear indication that the decades-long conflict has reached new levels of brutality. The frequency of these deadly attacks demonstrates the government’s failure to ensure safety and security in the region.

    “Nigerian authorities need to do more than debunk self-help calls if they want people to trust and cooperate with them.

    “Even-handed, prompt, and thorough investigations, followed by fair trials of those responsible for the violence, are effective ways to unequivocally send this message.”

    “Plateau is one of the states in Nigeria’s North Central region worst hit by decades of communal conflict between predominantly Christian farming communities and mostly Muslim cattle herdsmen.

    “Local groups report that between January and March 2018, 1,078 people died in the violence in Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Kwara, and Kogi states.

    “In Benue State alone, 102,000 children, 60 per cent of the 169, 922 people displaced by the conflict, have been forced out of school. Although the conflict is increasingly described in religious terms, competing claims to land and other resources are at its core.

    “In a 2013 report, Human Rights Watch found that the failure of authorities to bring those responsible to justice is one of the major drivers of the cycles of communal violence in Kaduna and Plateau states.

    “ In recent months, there have been no public reports on investigation by the police into the violence in the Middle Belt. Just five people in Adamawa State have been tried and sentenced for killings in the region since 2017.

    “Community leaders say that the inadequate deployment of security forces to protect lives and property has led them to advocate self-help defensive efforts, as well as retaliatory attacks against those responsible for, or perceived as being responsible for, previous attacks.

    “ In May, a former Defence Minister, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, called on people in his home state of Taraba to stop depending on government security forces which he said were not neutral, for protection, and instead to defend themselves against attackers.”

  • Plateau killings: PDP knocks Presidency for kicking against call for mourning

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed shock at a statement credited to the Presidency justifying its failure to stem the tide of killings and bloodletting in the country, particularly in the Plateau, Zamfara,  Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Borno, Kogi, Taraba and other troubled states.

    In a statement on Thursday by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, the Presidency had condemned PDP’s call for seven days mourning in honour of the over 200 villagers killed in Plateau State on Sunday.

    In a statement on Thursday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the opposition party said it’s reprehensible that the Presidency had displayed its usual arrogance and insensitivity too the mood of the nation.

    The statement said, “It is disturbing that even in death, the Buhari Presidency still wants to deny these victims of callous murder the honour of being mourned.

    Read Also: Oshiomhole to Presidency, National Assembly: I’ll uphold party supremacy

    “We are particularly appalled that instead of joining Nigerians in mourning the dead and seeking ways to stem the escalation of the bloodletting under its watch, the Buhari Presidency is engaged in morbid reference to past killings as if the lives of Nigerians have no value under President Buhari’s watch.

    “The PDP, as a party, will continue to identify with Nigerians at this troubled time irrespective of ethnic, religious and political affiliations and will therefore not allow itself to be dragged into a needless mire with the Buhari Presidency, which has shown by its statement, that it has no iota of regard for the lives of Nigerians.

    “PDP urges the Buhari Presidency to confront the challenge of fulfilling the basic responsibility of governance by providing security to the lives and property of all Nigerians, irrespective of their creed, tribe and political affiliations.

    “Finally, the PDP assures Nigerians that we will not be deterred in speaking out against the killings and the failure of the Buhari administration to take concrete steps to stem this ugly tide”.

  • $322m Abacha loot: Cash transfers to poor homes begin in July

    The Federal Government says it will commence disbursement of the recovered 322 million dollars Abacha loot through Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) to 302,000 poor households in 19 states in July.

    Mr Tukur Rumar, of the National Cash Transfer Office (NTCO), said this at a roundtable on assets recovery organised by the Swiss Embassy on Thursday, in Abuja.

    The event was organised to intimate citizens and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on the efforts both nations were making on asset recovery after the Post-Global Forum on Assets Recovery (GFAR) held in Washington D.C. in Dec. 2017.

    At the forum, Nigeria made commendable commitments on beneficial ownership, tax transparency, asset recovery, transparency management of recovered funds and payments to victims of corruption.

    The states are: Niger, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Cross River, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarrawa, Anambra and Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) in Borno.

    According to Rumar, the benefiting households will receive N5,000 monthly and are derived from the National Social Register (NSR) that the 19 states are already on.

    He said the programme was designed to also train beneficiaries on livelihood skills, social skills and other programmes that would change their lives completely.

    Rumar, however, said that NCTO had been making payments to the 46,000 poor and vulnerable households across the 19 states since Dec. 2016, adding that the number had increased to 290,000.

    Mr Iorwa Apera, the National Coordinator, National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO), said 503,055 households were already on the NSR register from the 19 states, adding that by July, there would be a social register for all the states of the federation.

    He said that of the Abacha loot, about 302,000 poor homes across the 19 states would be mined by the NCTO to begin to receive the Abacha loot.

    Apera told the participants that the Federal Government would begin with those states, because they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NASSCO to put in place certain infrastructure to empower the national register.

    “Some of the states delayed, but the other ones were quick enough to set up infrastructure that allowed us to start work there, but all the states are now on board as they have set up their state operating offices and donated office equipment to us.

    “As states come on board, we enroll and so they extend to the beneficiary register, and presently we are generating data in all the states now,’’ he said.

    Read Also: EFCC launches probe as $500m Abacha loot goes missing

    Mrs Linda Ekeator of the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment said the Abacha loot was invested in the social investment programme, because it was a programme that was already supported by the World Bank.

    She said that before the money was returned to Nigeria, there was an agreement with the Swiss government that it should be used for alleviating poverty and this was to be done with the supervision of the World Bank.

    The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Eric Mayoraz said the 722 million dollars of the Abacha family money that was hidden in Switzerland was fully repatriated in 2005.

    He also said that the 322 million dollars that was repatriated in Dec. 2017, was money that was frozen by the Swiss Attorney-General, but was not domiciled in Switzerland, but in other countries, mainly Luxembourg.

    He, however, said measures had been put in place to ensure that Swiss banks were not used to hide stolen funds from other countries.

    “For possible new cases, the Swiss legislation has fundamentally changed.

    “The law in Switzerland does not allow bank secrecy anymore, and all banks and financial institutions have a due diligence duty to ask everyone coming with money where it is coming from.

    “That does not mean that there are no illegal or stolen assets now in Switzerland, but then there is another instrument I signed myself with the Nigerian Ministry of Justice and Switzerland two years ago on mutual legal assistance and this is for new cases.

    “Now, this agreement with our own Ministry of Justice and Nigeria is that there will be direct communication and exchange on mutual legal request and we are really collaborating with EFCC and other agencies in Nigeria,’’ Mayoraz.

    The Executive Director, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, said for Nigerian citizens to not keep spreading rumours about the whereabouts of recovered loots, the government must be transparent in all the processes.

    He also said that CSOs should be given access to the social register to enable it monitor properly whether or not the beneficiaries received what was due to them.

  • Plateau and other killings

    AFTER a lull, violence made a bloody return to Plateau State last weekend. Scores of people were killed right in their homes by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.

    Condolences. More condolences. Tears and more tears. Recriminations. President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have visited, promising justice. But the question remains: when will the killings stop?

    It was not immediately clear why the gunmen struck, but the popular thinking is that the bloodletting was a result of the loss of some cows by Fulani herdsmen. Indeed, the spokesman of the association of cattle breeders said that much – that the bloodbath was in retaliation for the loss of some 300 cows. He was later to retract the statement, blaming it all on reporters who, he said, misquoted him. It was obviously to fend off the huge pressure that he should be arrested for fuelling the senseless killings and provoking the question: what is a man’s life worth, as against a cow’s?

    Only justice can answer this knotty question. But when will justice catch up with these marauders?

    Governor Simon Lalong was shocked at the carnage. He wondered why and how the peace he had been so proud of suddenly collapsed like a house of cards. The Berom and the Fulani who had been living together in peace suddenly became enemies, drawing daggers and pulling triggers.

    “I am greatly shocked that it happened because we have set a roadmap for peace for ourselves…shocked because the Berom and the Fulani have agreed to live in peace with one another and in practical terms they have co-existed for the last three years based on that agreement – to put the past behind them and live as a family.”

    The governor said when he was alerted that the violence was coming, he rushed down to the security agencies who assured him that it would not happen. “I left and it happened,” Lalong said.

    Why did the security chiefs’ assurance become a deflated balloon? Is an officer’s word still a word of honour? Was Lalong deceived? Or was it just a matter of intelligence deficit? Or Conspiracy? Or complacency? Or sheer incompetence?

    One thing is clear: the justice the President spoke of should start from the security agents. Whoever is found to have been negligent in this matter should carry the can. Carrying on from here as if rhetoric, and not action, will be enough will be politically and morally imprudent. People must be brought to account on the bloodshed that happened under their watch. That way, they will be more alert in future.

    The killers should be fished out and punished. We must find out who they are and why they are so mad. I do not believe that it is all because of cattle rustling and associated problems – land, ethnicity, religion and all that. No. It is, as Lalong observed, deeper than all the sentiments that we confront.

    We have a large army of terrorists in our midst.  Bands of bandits moving from one part of the country to the other, posing as kidnappers and highway robbers. They are not; they are in reality terrorists who have found us so vulnerable.  Even the President attests to the weight of the assault weapons they carry.

    Buhari said: “Take, for instance, the situation in Benue. The Benue subsistence farmer knows that the Nigerian cattle herder that he knows doesn’t carry nothing more than a stick, occasionally, sometimes something to cut grass to feed his cattle.

    “But the present herder, I am told, carries AK47 and people are even blaming me for not talking to them because maybe (they say) I look like one of them. There is some injustice in these aspersions.”

    Buhari is right – in his analysis (I have always believed that the herdsman is a mask for those crazy elements who are bent on destroying our humanity and our values but there is no way he can be right in what seems a security failure here.

    It was the turn of Ekiti State to have a taste of the madness a few weeks ago when these un(known) gunmen and madmen posing as herdsmen seized the beautiful Iwaraja (Osun State) – Efon Alaye (Ekiti State) road, killing and kidnapping innocent motorists and passengers. Those who attempted to flee the hell were shot in the back, among them a woman who had her kids in the car. By the time the military were called in, the marauders had gone into the deep, dark bush on the outskirts of Efon Alaye where they were negotiating ransom for their captives. No arrests have been made.

    Travelling from Iwaraja to Efon Alaye, you are confronted on both sides of the road by a beautiful scenery of lush green forests, undulating hills with low  vegetation in some areas and a massive greenery of virgin forests that exhibit the majesty of nature. The seductive hills take your eyes round and round in an exciting spectacle. The air is clean and fresh. All is quiet, except for birds chirping and farmers chatting on their way from the farm.

    Now motorists pass through with trepidation, their hearts in their mouths. And everybody is asking: Where are Governor Ayo Fayose’s hunters who came out the other day in their numbers – charms, arms, amulets, guns, catapults,machetes and headlamps – vowing to stop killer-herdsmen? His Excellency himself addressed them, decked out in military fatigues, pumping the air with his fist in a gesture of defiance.

    One of those kidnapped on this road, Dr Tunde Hamzat, spoke of his six-day ordeal in the hands of the gunmen. In his view, the Southwest has been infiltrated by agents of the devil. He has big machete cuts on his head and other parts of his body. He was starved, beaten and dehumanised. Every night, he and his captors trekked a minimum of five kilometers into the forest. To his amazement, he found out that the gunmen had a supply line; they were getting Indomie and recharging their phones by calling somebody somewhere. They had power banks to charge their phones, he said, adding that the gunmen confirmed that they were Fulani and members of the Boko Haram, the deadly Shekau faction. He was tied down like a goat. Insects feasted on his body. Eventually, he was freed after his friends and associates paid a ransom, in millions, of course.

    Until recently, the Akungba-Owo road was a den of kidnappers, perhaps the same set of bandits or an arm of their evil organisation. Their domain used to be Borno and some other states in the Northeast. Not anymore. The terror corridor has been expanded. We all seem to be helpless.

    The new war is beyond tanks, arms and ammunition. It is, in fact, beyond battalions. It is a war of intelligence and technology,  a people’s war. It is everybody’s war because the situation keeps challenging our claim to humanity.

     

    A World Cup update

    BEFORE the Super Eagles’ loss to Argentina on Tuesday, I asked my colleague Ade Ojeikere, who was in St. Petersburg to cover the match a difficult question: “Can Nigeria beat Argentina?” He replied: “It’s possible, based on our boys’ form, and if the ref will not play politics. They may see Argentina as the better team to advance – for marketing sake.”

    Isn’t Ade damn right? The ref saw an Argentine defender handle the ball inside the box, yet he would not award a penalty, which, if scored, would have sunk the Argentines. After the match, on the social media appeared the image of the ref watching the VTR to establish what happened. On the screen is $10,000,000. “That is what the referee saw on the VAR,” a fellow wrote.

    As usual, all Nigerians have become experts in soccer. The coach, poor fellow, is being hammered for the loss. He is blamed for not knowing what to do in the last 10 minutes of a match in which he required a draw to qualify. He is blamed for fielding Ighalo who lost at least two clear and crucial chances.

    Besides, there are sardonic jokes about our exit. A friend sent this before the match ended: “Now that we need Nigerian witches and wizards, they won’t show up. If it is to stop somebody from getting a big contract, they will be flying up and down.”

    In my view, the Eagles did well. They are gallant losers. They were not disgraced. Above all, their exploits united us all. Can we continue in that spirit?

  • Obasanjo calls for solution to mass killings in Nigeria

    As high profile Nigerians continue to pour into Jos over massive killings in Plateau communities, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the right machinery should be put in place for solution.

    According to the former president, human problems need human solutions and Nigeria must find solution to massive killings across the country.

    Obasanjo spoke on Wednesday when he paid a condolence visit to Gov. Simon Lalong in Jos.

    Obasanjo who conveyed the condolences of his family and his delegation  charged government at all levels to look for the causes of the killings.

    “It is saddening  in this day and age that this kind of barbaric thing is happening in our own country.

    “I have suggested and I will still say it again that we need to find out the cause of these mindless killings even among age old neighbours.

    “There must be a cause or causes,  remote and immediate and we must deal with it.

    “And if we must continue to multiply condolences upon condolences, we must look for the remote causes and deal with it.

    “I believe this is a human problem and problems have human solutions, this is a human problem.

    “I hope and plead that government at the federal level must collaborate with states, local governments and communities to find what are the causes so that we can deal with it,” he said.

    He prayed for a cohesive society where everybody would be his brother’s keeper.

    Lalong  appreciated Obasanjo for making out time to come personally to console the people.

    Lalong said that he was particularly sad with the development because when he came on board, the Berom and Fulani signed a pact and made some recommendations on how to stay and live together in peace.

    According to him, some of the recommendations are being worked on to be passed into law.

    The Plateau Government had placed a 6p.m. to 6a.m. curfew on three communities of Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Jos South local government areas after massive killings in the past three days.

    The police confirmed that 86 persons died in attacks which occurred on Sunday. (NAN)

  • Plateau Killings: Order arrest of mastermind, ADP, UPP tells Buhari

    The Action Democratic Party (ADP) and the United Peoples Party (UPP) on Tuesday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to put action to his promise by ensuring that masterminds of Sunday brutal killings in Jos were brought to justice with immediate effect.

    In separate press statements signed by the National Chairmen of the two parties, Engr. Yabagi Sani and Chief Chekwas Okorie respectively, they said that the failure of the President to order the immediate arrest of those responsible will make him to lose face and perceived to have compromised.

    Engr. Sani explained that the current perception held by the people is that the government of President Buhari is shielding killer herdsmen and this must be proved otherwise.

    ‘If the government fails to respond appropriately on this Jos killing , the nation may be driven into a situation where every citizen will fend security for themselves and this could spell doom” he said.

    According to him, it is a good thing that Vice President Osibajo visited to commiserate and have first hand knowlege but it would have been more appropriate for the President to personally visit as he did to Bauchi recently.

    Sani admonished all Nigerians to condemn the act as barbaric and genocidal doing everything possible to help this government that appear clueless and helpless.

    At ADP we commiserate with the People of Jos and admonish the government of Plateau State to be proactive with security in the State and not play politics with the lives of the people.

    On his part, Chief Okorie said “We are saddened beyond description by the recent massive destruction of lives and property of the people of Plateau State by bands of Fulani insurgents in a well-coordinated mayhem.

    This is one attack too many. This particular attack has attained the proportion of a genocide
    which has put Nigeria on the world map for reasons we should all be ashamed of.

    “We fervently urge President Muhammadu Buhari to pay urgent attention to the security architecture of Nigeria.

    We urge the Nigeria Police, especially the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to deploy the same technology that he has used to crack recent armed robbery and kidnapping criminal activities where the perpetrators escaped and within a short time most of them were rounded up with the use of modern technology of which the general public has applauded the Police.

    Read Also: Plateau killings: Buhari calls for peace

    “We believe that these terrorists communicate among themselves and with their sponsors within and outside Nigeria. It is therefore unacceptable that the Police Force that has been equipped with modern technology has not been able to make any significant breakthrough or made arrest of these blood hounds who have made life so short and brutish in many parts of Nigeria.

    “If no urgent steps are taken to check the activities of the insurgents, the political campaigns leading to the much expected 2019 general elections may be seriously jeopardized as no meaningful campaign can take place in volatile and dangerous environment, including the fact that very low and poor voter turnout will be expected in the areas that are unsafe.

    “Such eventuality will not only constitute a major setback to the consolidation and growth of our democratic process, it will also be a major minus to the improved number of registered voters so far recorded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who are looking forward to participating in the 2019 general elections in an unfettered and safe environment.”

  • Plateau: Understanding the fresh wave of violence

    SIR: Since his assumption of office in May 29, 2015, Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong did not mince words about his resolve to bring an end to the incessant and mindless waste of human lives and property on the Plateau. He succeeded in the last three years as there were no major cases of crisis within the period.

    The current governor who was speaker of the state’s House of Assembly from 2000 to 2006 during Joshua Dariye’s regime is arguably the most popular with acceptance across the divides, the type of which has never been witnessed since 1999. His acceptance may not be unconnected to the fact that though a Christian, he has a very cordial professional and political relationship with Muslims in the state.

    Lalong immediately swung into mending fences shattered by the lukewarm attitudes of his predecessors (Joshua Dariye and Jonah Jang) to peace, by appointing for the first time, three Muslim commissioners namely Muhammad Nazif from Jos North, Muhammad Abbas from Wase and Dayyabu Garga from Kanam LGAs to the state’s executive council. Several other minority Muslims were appointed into governing boards of ministries, departments and agencies, just as Jos North for the first time in 30 years began to witness government’s presence.

    By recognising Hausa/Fulani Muslims as indigenes and giving them appointments in his government; by attempting to let the Hausa/Fulani communities in the state smell dividends of democracy; by attempting to reconstruct the famous Jos Main Market, a Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba dominated market which was engulfed by fire in questionable circumstances when Dariye held sway, the governor invoked the wrath of “indigene” elites. Their utterances via the media, at public and political gatherings as well as their body language against the Lalong-led government gave their tribesmen the nod to revisit troublemaking with their “settler” neighbours with impunity.

    Gingered by the careless utterances of their leaders, some irate youths believed to be of Berom extraction on Thursday June 21 blocked the Heipang-Barikin Ladi road, killed five Fulani men returning from Kara, Buruku cattle market and set them, their cows and pick-up vehicle ablaze. That, it must be understood, preceded a series of coordinated rustling of cattle  belonging to the Fulani living within the Bukuru-Riyom-Barikin Ladi axis. That was the trigger of the recent killings in Jos South, Barikin Ladi and Riyom LGAs of the state, prompting the state government to impose a dusk to dawn curfew in the areas.

    As 2019 elections draw nearer, political desperadoes have been ringing the ethno-religious bell, tagging the governor as Hausa/Fulani stooge, vowing never to allow a minority Goemai man rule the state for eight years and inciting their youths against the “settlers”.  Unless politicians desist from flying the kites of religious hatred against certain groups of people, unless we see and treat our fellow countrymen first as humans and unless our media organisations shun away from hate campaigns against a people whose ways of life vary from their paymasters’, we are only joking about peaceful coexistence in Nigeria.

     

    • Tanimu Gambo, Wase, Plateau State.