The law indeed is blind in Nigeria. Impunity pays. This cycle of violence and ethnic cleansing starting in 1945 in Jos, 1953 in Kano, in 1966, in 1978, down to the Akaluka beheading in Kano are the ancestral spirits of what has now become the Jos massacre of Christians by so-called Fulani Moslem pastoralists.
—Obi Nwakanma
Protest: Plateau women outside the National Assembly
7th of March massacre
It was shocking to watch the aftermath of the recent religious massacre in Dogo Nahawa village near Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria on CNN. It was even more traumatic to watch the 'slaughtering' video on YouTube. The photographs of people burnt alive may make you shiver. Press reports revealed that a mother lost three children while another witnessed the barbaric manner as her child was butchered or dismembered into two pieces by invaders. 378 bodies reportedly got a mass burial after the reprisal attack on Christians by Muslims on the 7th of March; after the January massacre that claimed over 400 lives.
It was obvious that the affected women cannot enjoy a happy Mother’s Day today because they are still mourning. When mothers in most countries celebrate Mother’s Day, these women will go through another day of grief. A lot of them are displaced after their homes were destroyed by arsonists. In fact, some of them are starving and the kids that should have given them Mother’s Day presents and kisses are dead. A woman who lost all her seven children told the Sunday Sun that she would avenge their death.
Thousands of lives have been lost in religious conflicts in Plateau State over the years. It is obvious that the people cannot live in harmony so why not create another state out of Plateau State to accommodate the Christians or merge the Muslim part of Plateau with a Sharia state? Enough is enough!
Protest
The Plateau women held rallies in Jos and Abuja to show their discontentment but should the legislature not find a solution to unwarranted killings, since the Olusegun Obasanjo regime? After all, the Obasanjo administration allowed the introduction of Sharia Law in Northern Nigeria.
Nigeria is not an Islamic state although Ibrahim Babangida enrolled Nigeria in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1986 during his tenure as a Military dictator. According to the European Institute for Research on Mediterranean and Euro-Arab Cooperation, “… Nigeria renounced its membership in 1991; however, the OIC has not recognized this decision.” When will the OIC recognize a decision to pull out of its organization? Nigeria renounced her membership during the Babangida regime. Is the OIC a life and death membership association?
Governor Jang, the sleeping Jonah?
The Governor of Plateau State, Jonah David Jang was probably caught ‘napping’ before the last massacre. He put the blame on the Army that were allegedly not at entry points in the state while the invaders unleashed terror on the residents. Who would he blame next time? He claimed that he could not get through to the Army that colluded with murderers but why did he not get in touch with the police too? Anyway, Governor Jang, the Army, Police and security agencies should share the blame for incompetence.
It was a lame excuse from Jang who is a retired Air Commodore. One of the reasons why Nigeria cannot move forward is because the military is still in power under the cloak of democracy. What some military and paramilitary officers have done was to resign, remove their uniforms, and became mufti presidents, governors and senators etc.
On the other hand, if the Acting President Goodluck Jonathan did not know that he should have sacked the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, before Dambazau denied saying that his loyality was only for the missing terminally ill President Yar’Adua then that is his business. The way Jonathan was humiliated by security men after Yar’Adua’s alleged arrival from Saudi Arabia is another story entirely. The Sultan of Sokoto tried to defend Dambazau on the Jos massacre. Well, the era of ‘Rankadede’ Politicking is over.
Fraudulent security votes
State Governors have Chief Security Officers and security reports are produced with the aid of security agencies. It had always meant that most Governors knew the potential sponsors of religious disturbances in Nigeria but purposely failed to allow the prosecution of collaborators in high places. Moreover, the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton demanded that perpetrators of the Jos massacre should be arrested and put on trial.
Billions of Naira is wasted on security votes for all the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; so why should Governor Jang blame the Army? How many millions of Naira does Plateau State receive annually for security vote? What was the content on the last security report on the Plateau, especially Jos?
It is an open secret among security officers in Nigeria that most of the illegal security votes were looted and transferred into bank accounts of governors like ex-governor James Ibori. Therefore, can security officers actually do their jobs effectively? Monkey dey work baboon dey chop?
FOI Bill
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill should be amended to include the disclosure of security reports in relation to matters of public interest e.g. terrorism, religious violence, riots and massacres. Funny enough, the FOI bill was recently thrown out again because Nigerian lawmakers did not want the disclosure of their fraudulent malpractices and inflated expenses. The United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal began last year when the Daily Telegraph published official documents.
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Mass burial courtesy REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye
Plateau women protesting the massacre courtesy Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty
