MAYHEM IN JOS ( The Guardian Monday jan 25,2010)
Again and again, sectarian violence erupts in Northern Nigeria. Again and again, Nigerians rise in condemnation and their governments institute commissions of enquiry to look into the remote and immediate causes of the violence. In a show of political correctness, murderous rioters are corralled into police custody, but all are released without charge when the dust settles. Of the tones of recommendations made to avert future clashes, nothing is ever heard. Thus the cycle of violence is perpetuated and the culture of impunity nurtured. Apart from Jos there have been deadly riots in Kano, Maiduguri, Jimeta, Gombe, Zango-Kataf, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Kastina, Funtua and Yobe.
Following the November 2008 Jos riots in which more than 700 were killed in sectarian violence, two probes were initiated. The Justice Bola Ajibola panel was commissioned by the Plateau State Government. It has finished its work but characteristically no report has been issued. The General Emmanuel Abisoye panel commissioned by the Federal Government is still gathering data. As Nigerian authorities continue making merry whilst Rome burns, another deadly riot erupts in Jos between Christian and Muslim mobs. As usual with these riots no one quite knows what ignites them. One report says that trouble began when a Muslim man whose home was destroyed in the riot of November 2008, decided to rebuild the house. It will appear that the man’s house was ensconced in a Christian neighborhood. He is accused of encroaching on other people’s land and even wanting to convert the property into a mosque. Another version claims that the real cause of the riot was the unprovoked attack on Christian worshipers whilst the church was in session on Sunday morning, November 17, by a gang of moslem youths who sacked the church and killed a worshiper. A third version blames the riot on a disputed football result.
Whatever may be the truth of these allegations, what is clear is that in the resulting mayhem the streets of Jos were littered with corpses. For three days, sectarian mobs armed with guns, bows and arrows, and machetes went on a killing spree, burning and looting houses, cars and shops, as well as several churches and mosques. Such was the ferocity of the carnage that the authorities were obliged to impose a 24-hour curfew to contain the situation. In the aftermath, an estimated 500 persons have been killed, properties running into billions of Naira have been destroyed and more than 5000 persons have been displaced. The number of fatalities may well increase as there are fresh reports from other parts of Plateau State indicating more killings.
The government should take the issue of communal ethno-religious riots more seriously. If not properly handled, Nigerian unity can be threatened. It must demonstrate the will to seek solutions to ethno-religious conflicts that are just below the surface in many parts of the country. It should make active use of intelligence to nip future crisis in the bud. Above all, it should ensure an end to the reign of impunity by insisting that all those guilty of wanton destruction of life and properties are severely punished.
The Jos riots could not have come at a worse time for Nigeria. With political and economic uncertainties occasioned by an absentee President, the misguided Nigerian youth on board an American plane on Christmas day, the blacklisting of Nigeria by the Obama administration- Nigeria is in the midst of adverse circumstances. To extricate ourselves from an unjust label of terrorism, we must hasten to remove Christian and Moslem clashed from our political agenda. It is now imperative for Nigerian leaders and religious organizations to rally to end permanently to all religious riots in the country.