If the renowned English poet John Donne were a Nigerian and living in Plateau State, he surely would have died of a heart attack far ahead of his time. For his involvement in mankind, Donne, in his 400-year-old poem against isolationism, made the famous statement that any man’s death diminishes him, adding that “no man is an island entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent.”
But if there is one word that has since become a defining feature of Plateau State, it is isolationism.
In May this year, I was in Jos on an assignment and chose to stay in a hotel near Rayfield. A Muslim friend, a resident of Jos that I invited for dinner, was shocked that I, a Muslim, could stay in what he called “enemy territory.” He warned me never to stay again in any hotel outside the Muslim-dominated parts of Bauchi Road. I laughed over his suggestion and, of course, he refused to meet me. Such is the sad story of Plateau that a Christian could hardly also venture into the Muslim parts, feeling his or her life would be on the line.
Almost two years ago, specifically, on Friday, October 18, 2019, this column analysed in some detail the very devastating situation of repeated killings in Plateau State and called the attention of those concerned to do something fast to nip it in the bud. Have the people in power, including the Federal government, as well as the ordinary people of Plateau, heeded that clarion call?
Well, it seems they have not. Or perhaps their efforts were not enough. In less than two weeks, from reports in the public domain, more than 50 innocent Nigerians have been killed, beginning from the Muslim travellers passing through Jos from Bauchi to Ondo, to Christians hacked to death mostly in their sleep, in the middle of this week. The sight of corpses on both occasions is repugnant.
If the word HATE were to be forced to find a state of origin, there is no doubt it would choose Plateau over and above any other one in this country. I reproduce herewith that piece published almost two years ago, as the issues raised then are still relevant today. Exceprts:
It used to be the home of peace and tourism. The weather in Plateau State is about the best in Nigeria, and so, people desirous of a peaceful, conducive environment in which to unwind always rush especially to the state capital, Jos.
But that peace was shattered through sheer intolerance 18 years ago when an 18-year-old woman insisted in passing through a congregation of Muslim faithful during Friday prayers. The venue was a packed Juma’at mosque in Jos North. All entreaties on the young woman to take another path fell into deaf ears. It was obvious she was on an ominous mission to instigate crisis.
And since her mission was all too apparent, the Muslim faithful ought to have ignored and allowed her to pass. That would have been the end of the story. But they did not. Some overzealous ones among them attacked the young woman, and all hell was let loose. The natives, an overwhelming majority of who are Christians, felt slighted. They took up arms in revenge, and days later when the crisis was brought under control, it left in its wake tens of dead bodies and hundreds of millions of naira in destroyed property.
The peace that was the hallmark of Plateau deserted it since then. Holidaymakers started turning their backs against the state, and that significantly affected the economy of the state and its populace. With poverty comes more anger and feeling of deprivation, and so Plateau has been relapsing into violence at the slightest prompting.
With the coming of Governor Simon Lalong into power four years ago, peace started returning to the state. The governor is a devout Christian but, knowing his disposition as a man of peace, the Muslims gave him a resounding support at the polls, and he easily won the gubernatorial election of 2015. He is now into his second term of office, having won again in the election earlier this year.
One of the major issues causing problems in Plateau is the crisis of identity. The natives will rather be accommodative to a Nigerian of southern extraction, provided he is a Christian, than the Muslim whose parents and grandparents were born in the state. And so they always make sure the Hausa community, an overwhelming majority of who are Muslims, do not come close to getting even as ordinary as the lowest cadre jobs in the state civil service.
There is the widespread belief that Jos North, which encompasses metropolitan Jos, is mostly populated by the Muslim Hausa community. And so the Muslims feel they are entitled to produce the local government chairman of Jos North. But the native Christians will not have that. Most of them feel it is an insult to have a Muslim as leader of that locality or any other part of Plateau State. And even though democracy is a game of number, they will not accept any election whose result indicates a Muslim winning in Jos North. In a 2004 local government election, hundreds of people were killed simply because a Muslim had won the election in that local government.
Now, the dark clouds are gathering on the Plateau yet again. In his bid to make peace, Governor Lalong appointed a Hausa Muslim as caretaker chairman of Jos North. Owing to security considerations, the governor tactfully decided not to have elections in four volatile local governments in the state. There is the belief that, once a free and fair election is held in Jos North, particularly, a Muslim will win. In any case, the person appointed in acting capacity won the primary election of the ruling APC. But the natives will not have that. And so the state is presently on edge, with some Christians promising fire and brimstone, unless the decision is reversed with immediate effect.
Spokesperson of the Autochthonous Persons of Jos, Theresa Azi Nyako, who spoke at a media briefing two days ago on Wednesday, insisted that the governor of the state must conduct election in the four volatile local governments of the state. It does not matter to her that the outcome is going to result in widespread violence.
Flanked by community leaders in Anaguta, Afizere and Berom, Theresa minced no words in saying they were ready to die in defence of their land, which, according to her, was bequeathed to them by their forefathers. In her words: “We want to state in clear, unmistakable and unambiguous terms that we reject and condemn the suppression of our franchise in Jos North local government, among others. The imposition of a non-indigene who also doubles as the APC candidate during the primary elections completely rubbishes global best practices.”
It is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.” Madam Theresa, however, could not state which part of the constitution the governor’s action breaches, when asked by a reporter.
Governor Lalong is now faced with a dilemma, the like of which he had never experienced before. Youths are gathering and issuing all sorts of threats. But such is the politics of Plateau State. Both sides in the divide can be very uncompromising in their positions.
Fifteen years ago, precisely on May 13, 2014, President Olusegun Obasanjo had to, in frustration, publicly call the chairman of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) an idiot. The president had tried all he could to bring about peace on the Plateau, but the CAN chairman was proving impossible. Sadly, that led to reprisal killings in Kano, which were effectively nipped in the bud by the then patriotic governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.
All the previous crises started this way. The difference is that whereas the incumbent governor is a proven man of peace, who is doing all he could to protect all Nigerian citizens living in Plateau, his predecessors were believed to be complicit in fueling the division. Such is the negative role that previous administrations played on the Plateau that President Obasanjo had to suspend then governor Joshua Dariye and appointed a caretaker to govern the state for six months in a state of emergency. It was easy for Obasanjo to do that because he is a Christian. One can only imagine the wild reaction if it were President Buhari calling the state CAN chairman an idiot.
Now, it is not only Governor Lalong that is in trouble. President Buhari is also even in bigger trouble because he controls the troops, and the entire security strata of the Nigerian federation. If he acts with dispatch to stop the proponents of war, he will be accused of taking sides with the Muslims. And if folds his hands and allow the matter to degenerate, Plateau will sooner than later be engulfed in heave fire, perhaps in a scale that is unprecedented.
But at the risk of taking sides, one is compelled to advice the people of Plateau to grow up and firmly enlist the state in the list of civilized societies. The state should take a cue from what obtains even in their neighboring states, such as Kano that inhabits the largest proportion of Muslims in Nigeria. When a Yoruba Christian won a local government election in Fagge, in metropolitan Kano about fifteen years ago, the natives did nothing to stop him.
Starting with Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, every governor of Kano since then has been appointing non natives into key positions in the state government. Shekarau at a time had three non-natives as members of the state executive council. The people of Kano did nothing like claiming the state is their franchise, as Madam Theresa is now doing. Perhaps that explains why the state has continued to be prosperous, dwarfing Plateau in virtually every strata of development.
The world we live in today does not have a place for ethnic and religious champions. Nigerians are becoming members of parliament in European countries, and some of them are mayors and ministers all over the world. London is perhaps ninety percent Christian. But the mayor of London is a Pakistani Muslim. And the city is prospering. Just as the interim local government chairman of Jos North cannot force anyone to convert to Islam, so also Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London cannot even try to. Through diversity, societies have been attaining maximum advantages.
Just three days ago, Governor Masari of Katsina, a Muslim populated state, appointed a Christian as an adviser in charge of Christian affairs. Nobody even raised an eyebrow in that state. I also know quite a number of Christian dominated states that have given the minority Muslim population a big sense of belonging. Senator Gabriel Suswam had done so when he was governor of Benue State. So also Senator Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State, as well as very many of the incumbent governors. Though divisions still exist in some climes, many Nigerian societies are fast moving towards unity and integration. Plateau should not allow ethnic champions to keep pulling it back.
We therefore call on Governor Lalong to make sure nobody rubbishes his legacy of peace by setting Plateau on fire, especially since nobody is above the law. He should immediately seek the hand of the federal government to make sure the situation is not allowed to escalate. Christianity, the religion that some of these trouble makers prophes, is a religion of peace. They should not drag the excellent name of Christ on the mud, in a desperate bid to achieve selfish ends. A stitch in time saves nine.
bove concludes that piece under reference. I will say the same thing for the Muslim killers, though, sadly, you could hardly call the marauding killer herdsmen as Muslims, as many of them are pagans, and the few of them claiming Islam know absolutely nothing about the religion.