Oh God, when will peace return to Plateau?
Written by Isaac Shobayo Friday, 23 July 2010
The intermittent taking of lives on the Plateau is no longer news. Nigerians and the people of the state seem to have lost all hopes of peace returning to the once peaceful state, despite the intervention of security operatives at the highest level. Isaac Shobayo tells the tragic tale of another round of bloodletting, this time at Mazah.
Villages in Plateau State, especially in the northern part, have been under siege since the beginning of this year. The people now sleep with one eye open to watch out for possible attack on their communities by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen alleged to be on revenge mission over their kith and kin allegedly killed during the January upheaval at Jenta Kuru, Jos South Local Government Area of the state.
Since January, Fulani invasions and counter attacks by the natives have been a recurring decimal in places like Jos North, Jos South, Barakin-Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas of the state.
In the month of March this year, the Fulani, in large number, stormed Dogo-Nahauwa and the surrounding villages in Jos North local government at night in a commando-like operation and snuffed lives out of the people. The raid which lasted for three hours, claimed the lives of children and adults numbering about 300. The affected villages are still lying in ruins, three months after the unfortunate incident.
Shortly after the barbaric act, many villages in Jos South, Riyom and Barakin Ladi local governments also experienced similar attacks. In one of the attacks at Riyom, where 10 people were killed and scores of people injured, the aggrieved youths of the community, in a reprisal attack, killed 10 passengers plying the highway in the area, thus fuelling the unfortunate incident.
To stem the orgy of killings, the state, affected local governments and different organisations, within and outside the state, had organised different peace parleys where both the natives and Fulani were brought together for reconciliation and the need to live in peace and harmony with one another.
But, from all indications, the peace parleys have not achieved expected result as pockets of attacks still occurred within the areas, thus creating fear in the minds of the people and spurring them to retaliate. The causes of the incessant attacks have been identified to be unforgiving spirit on both sides of the divide, and a quest for revenge at the slightest provocation.
While various stakeholders in Plateau State were making spirited efforts to arrest the situation and, at the same time, thanking God that their efforts were finally yielding dividends, people suspected to be Fulani, on Saturday, 17 July, stormed Mazah village in Jos North Local Government Area of the State at about 1:30 am and unleashed mayhem.
The assailants, who were armed with various dangerous weapons such as guns, bows and arrows, and cudgels, sneaked into the sprawling village which is surrounded by hills, which is about 8 kilometres from Jos, the state capital, and unleashed terror on the people.
The Nigerian Tribune learnt that the assailants, who had been hiding in the nearby hills, swooped on the village at about 1:30 am and attacked the residents who had no premonition of the impending attack.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, the Community leader of Mazah, Mr. Abamu Kaiwa, said the incident occurred between 1 and 2 a.m. He said the assailants came in with various types of weapons and attacked some targeted houses within the village, adding that those who ran out of their houses for fear of being trapped sustained various degrees of injuries.
The community leader further stated that the personal house and family house of the councillor representing Mazah ward in Jos North Local Government, Hon. Kankani Jaja, were burnt; and his father and son killed.
Nigerian Tribune further learnt that Pastor of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) Rev. Nuhu Dawat, lost his wife, two children and a grandson in the attack. Narating his ordeal, Rev. Dawat declared. “It was at about 1:30 am when I heard a knock on my door and I opened the door, but I did not see anybody, so I went back into the house.
“A few minutes later, we started hearing sporadic gun shots. It was then I escaped into a nearby farm and took cover while the attack lasted, but my family was not fortunate to escape with me. My wife, daughters and grandson were killed by the marauders,” he said.
Another survivor of the evil act, Mr. Gaya Suna, said the attackers came with bright torch to help navigate their ways around the village, adding that he was able to escape with his wife, but his daughter was hacked down and killed while attempting to escape.
“People were sleeping when the attack took place. We cannot say exactly why they came to attack us because we have been living peacefully with everybody. Even when there was a crisis in Jos, Mazah was peaceful and nobody molested anybody in the guise of reprisal attack,” he said.
In the early morning raid, ten people were killed while some of the survivors were rendered homeless as the attackers burnt down their houses. The State Commissioner of Information and Communication, Mr. Greg Nyelong, said the attack was unusual, stating that it was just another attempt to destroy the peace Plateau people had been enjoying in the past months.
“It is an embarrassing situation. Just when we thought we had found peace , we suddenly have to cope with another ugly situation. They are enjoined to be calm and not take law in to their hands,” he advised.
Reacting to the incident, the former president of Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO), Barrister Titus Mann, strongly condemned the attack, saying that the attack on isolated communities in Plateau State had become rather too frequent and suggested it was a new and deliberate approach by the marauders to spread destruction and terror.
According to him, even as these attacks continued to rise, it was dismaying that the Plateau State government and the security forces, particularly the Nigerian Army which had since taken responsibility for the security of the state, appeared to be deeply divided over what needed to be done to stem the tide of these attacks and return peace to Jos and its environs.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government and Plateau State government, to reappraise the security situation in the state in the light of the new pattern of attacks, with a view to taking more vigorous and effective measures at combating it.
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