Killings on the Plateau: Genesis Shrouded
By Sanusi Muhammad
Converted infidels lacking religious knowledge had a deceiving dream of chasing other religious believers in Plateau State using concocted reasons. They planned to achieve their dream through violence, hate and hypocrisy for external support and sympathy.
Whosoever deceives himself of possessing the monopoly of violence at any given time must be a day dreamer living in a world of illusion and swimming in self-deceit.
The intention of this piece may be misconstrued, misunderstood or twisted for whatever interest. But facts cannot be denied. For peace to return to the embattled Plateau State there is need to revisit the remote cause (s) of the crisis and those behind it. There is need to know the level of Plateau State Government involvement in the escalation of the crisis that has defied logic since 2001 when it was ignited.
Today, even the most heartless cannot celebrate the ongoing killings in parts of Plateau State but the bitter truth surrounding the crisis is yet to surface.
It beats reasoning before the creation of Nasarawa State out of Plateau State in 1996, there was neither any case of ethno-religious crisis, political marginalization or land grabbing allegations until the new state was created the ground for ethnic cleansing surfaced disguising as correcting historical distortions.
When Nasarawa State was part of Plateau, the position of deputy governor and other key political offices were reserved for Muslims despite their numerical strength. That arrangement was for peaceful co-existence, inclusivity and unity. It was suddenly thrown out after the creation of Nasarawa State to portray Plateau as a Christian State that can be governed without the presence of a Muslim deputy governor. That is a mockery of truth!
Muslims in Plateau State have the numerical strength from the records to contest and win any elective position, but for fear, or seen as igniting religious crisis, they kept their cool all along for peace to reign while consciously confined to the back bench for crumbs.
To put the records straight, references are usually mischievously made with the Jihad of Dan Fodio which excluded most parts of Plateau State for the then absence of the natives on the plains.
By 1804, most of those referred to as Plateau State natives were living in caves, mountain tops and hills. The jihadists ignored their existence, presence and avoided any interaction with them. Most if not all were met stark naked without clothing up to the 70s. They were then referred to as Kafurai (Pagans). The Dan Fodio led jihad was meant to purify Islam not to convert infidels as mischievously claimed.
It was European missionaries who arrived and carried a ‘jihad’ on the infidels, smoked them out from the caves and hills. Clothed and converted them to Christianity through incentives and domestic labor.
When innocent Muslims who had spent over a century, born and brought up in places like Kuru, Bisichi, Foron, Gindin Akwati (Ex-land), Heipang, Vom, Maitumbi, Jos Kerana, Kwata, Turu,Trade centre etc were suddenly attacked and gruesomely murdered by Berom terrorists, and their corpses deposited in shallow wells and pits, the then governor of the state, Jonah Jang and other native leaders never deemed it necessary to condemn the beastly act, or even pay a condolence visit to bereaved families which confirmed an endorsement of the beastly act. The idea for reprisal was naturally mooted by those who survived the attacks.
But when there was what resembled a reprisal at Dogo Nahauwa that claimed over 500 lives of the natives, Jang and other tribal leaders were quick to apportion blame on the suspected perpetrators with condemnation as he was an early caller to the scene to assess casualties, condole and provide immediate succor to the bereaved. A typical case of selective justice!
I perused through various reports on past issues on how Gen. Idris Alkali, a passerby and several other innocent souls murdered and buried in shallow graves and ponds in Dura-Du village of Jos South local government area by suspected Berom terrorists now enjoying their freedom courtesy of a bail granted by a Jos High Court judge and possibly celebrated by other native militia groups as heroes.
Those gruesome murders including that of Dr Eze and others in Vom, as well as the arrest and detention of Pastor Lohlum Samuel without convincing reason on the orders of Jonah Jang, although very painful, seems to have been swept under the carpet by those in authority, foolishly thinking it will not resurface or there wouldn’t be any reprisal action in future. It’s a matter of time from my observation.
Recent statement credited to the military officer who carried out the cumbersome and dangerous assignment of digging deep down into how Gen. Alkali was murdered, reveals volumes. A Plateau State High Court Judge, Daniel Longi then on the verge of retirement from the bench, had the guts, audacity and shamelessly ordered the release of arrested suspects in connection with the gruesome murder of the retired military officer on bail to satisfy the wishes of his kith and kin in their dream world.
The real hidden agenda behind the persistent crisis rocking Plateau State is yet to be exposed because sponsors of the crisis are not hidden but known, instead of arresting and prosecuting them, they are enjoying their peace and celebrated for reasons best known to those shielding them from justice which is gradually and steadily escalating jungle justice, banditry or whatever it may be called.
Unless, the Almighty intervenes, from my objective analysis of the love-lost situation at hand, there may never be permanent peace on the Plateau so long as those bloodthirsty ethno-religious jingoists are breathing on planet earth and occupying strategic positions of influence within the polity, their communities or claimed religious organizations. Those are the real representatives of the devil stationed on the Plateau preaching hate and celebrating violence. Reference to one hopeless idiot, who of recent paraded himself as ‘Sheikh’ Pastor ‘Muhammed Muhammed’ who featured in a video clip, that went viral so desperate to cause violence on the Plateau for his personal pleasure.
They encourage and sponsor mayhem, attacks and murders of their hated targets with or without reason, provocation or offence hiding under the canopy of either religion or land grabbing or ethnicity.
Let us look at the issue of the so called land grabbing for this discourse. How and when did those referred to as settlers own land on the Plateau? Was it through inheritance, donation, failed mortgage agreement, purchase, seizure or forceful grab? Most of those referred to as settlers own their lands through due process not by seizure or the alleged grab. By the time the natives realized they had disposed off their lands and left with nothing, they started crying to the skies shouting alleged grab hence the issue of ethnic cleansing was cooked to retrieve the lands by force from legitimate owners using all available means. Killing is the option of the natives!
Sponsors of the crisis forgot to reason that those “settlers” whose legitimately owned lands were forcefully seized, murdered or chased away have the right by any means possible to bounce back either to reclaim their land if interested or cause the breach of peace as a way out.
According to Nura Muhammed, chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Plateau State Council, “The natives have been shouting that Fulani should leave their ancestral lands. What do they mean? The entire Mangu local government area was a complete Fulani dynasty, called Butum Chiefdom, where Ardo Dabude was used by the colonial masters for indirect rule when they arrived Butum Chiefdom
“And today, Dabude’s descendants are called non-indigenes of the area founded by their grandparents and made to face different kinds of harassments, threats and intimidations just to send them packing. By the time the Fulani were in control of the land, the natives were on hills and caves all over Plateau State. No single native was on the ground. If there was any, let history be visited
“We can name the first set of missionaries that arrived, Butum Chiefdom and when Mangu leprosium was built and the first primary school established before another leprosium was built at Bayara and Kampanin Kutare in Bauchi State, Bambur in present day Taraba State and that of Garkida in Adamawa State. We know when and how the Mwaghavul surfaced in Mangu and claimed to be indigenes. The relics are still there to establish our facts. The same thing is applicable to the Beroms who are claiming what originally belongs to others”
This reminds me on one Friday, August 27, 2021, members of the 9th Plateau State House of Assembly, called on ex-Governor Simon Bako Lalong to come up with a statement defending the people and to bring back renewed commitment to the cause of Plateau. They strongly called on the Plateau people to practically stand up and defend themselves, and their communities, as the conventional security design was no longer guaranteeing their safety as a people. That was a ‘patriotic’ call from lawmakers directing the people to stand up in defence of themselves as the conventional security design was no longer guaranteeing their safety as endangered people.
But, let us shudder to think on how lawmakers could descend to such a low level of encouraging lawlessness calling on their people to be savages guising as defending themselves. Instead, one had all along expected the lawmakers to proffer better solutions to the security challenges disfiguring the state than the infantile call for self defence. What is their combined numerical strength to stand a fight with the most populous ethnic nationality in the African Continent? Was that not a direct call for a suicide mission in naked truth?!
That bold statement was safely considered as a critical juncture which underscored media reports and spurious allegations of ineptitude, indifference and cluelessness against Governor Lalong in handling the fragile security situation on the Plateau. The ethno-religious militants had wanted Lalong to act as their robot.
The lawmakers took the ‘bold’ step to tackle the seeming vacuum in the political leadership of the state from their perception where inaction had held sway as they showed. It was a decisive step to provide momentary relief to the despondent people of the state and possibly recover the state from sailing adrift on a rudderless voyage. They wanted the governor to double act and to be seen acting even in hopelessness to please their taste for cheap political dividends. That was a joke carried too far!
It can be recalled that Jos North, Riyom, Barikin Ladi, Bokkos and Bassa were witnessing coordinated bloodbaths triggered by the gruesome murder of innocent persons in separate incidents.
In Bassa, the killings were triggered by hoodlums believed to be Irigwe youth who murdered 25 innocent Tijjaniyya Sect Fulani travelers from Bauchi to Ikare in Ondo State on Saturday, August 14, 2021 around Gada biyu – Rukuba road within Jos metropolis. That was followed by the massacre of over 35 Irigwe villagers of Yelwan-Zangam, Jos North local government area barely 10 days after that was methodically executed in the night.
Till this moment, the state remains tension-soaked as fears of further attacks heighten with the alarm of an ‘influx’ of suspected ‘terrorists’ from other areas.
Plateau State is no stranger to communal crisis and the people are no less acquainted with the grief it generated over the years, as residents witnessed unyielding crisis with huge losses of lives and properties. Efforts to resolve the age-long crisis have often failed. More disturbing, was the fact that the coming of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to power in 2015 with its change mantra, and a vow to tackle the insecurity, the effort was periodically and rudely punctured by hoodlums on suspected sponsorship to return the state to the dark days.
Plateau State now has a governor whose commitment to achieving lasting peace in the troubled state cannot be doubted at the moment. It may not be out of place to say that the governor, a legal practitioner by profession and onetime chairman of Mangu local government council, is battling the odds to restore lasting peace on the Plateau, possibly without attached sentiments as characteristics of some past leaders that failed woefully.
Lest I forget, where are those Plateau State self-appointed indigenes masquerading as elders, community leaders, religious leaders and political players? Should we say they are comfortable with the situation as it is today? I remember the active days of real elders, leaders and political players that loved peaceful coexistence. They were elders and leaders that believed in the unity and progress of Plateau State. With the exception of few, majority of them have since joined their ancestors in a peaceful Plateau State they cherished and labored to build but now under destruction by those bloodthirsty vandals left behind. May the Almighty God light the path of understanding for unity and Save Plateau State!
One bitter truth that remains to be explored is that in future elections, Muslim communities in Plateau State should aspire to contest the highest elective positions using their numerical strength as support base than submitting to spurious claims. Let the ballot boxes be tested. There is no harm in trial!
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues