February 19, 2010
Permit me sir to use this medium to write a rejoinder to the various articles that have been published in almost every national daily condemning the recent incident in Jos. I, like most Nigerian citizens, think that this recent crisis was one too many in a city that has lost its allure and is already trailing by many decades among states of a country that has little that is positive by way of international image.
Permit me sir to use this medium to write a rejoinder to the various articles that have been published in almost every national daily condemning the recent incident in Jos. I, like most Nigerian citizens, think that this recent crisis was one too many in a city that has lost its allure and is already trailing by many decades among states of a country that has little that is positive by way of international image.
I was born and bred in Jos, and there is yet no city in this country that gives me the feeling of ‘home’ like Jos does. The scenery is breathtaking, the weather second to none and the people are probably the friendliest to be found in any part of this country (and I say this without any bias to any group in particular). Let me reiterate as a man of conscience that the killings and wanton destruction of property are shameful and godless acts that are condemnable by every standard; let he who thinks that killing in the name of religion either preemptively or by retaliation is justified correct me!
As a student of the University of Jos, I remember how stranded and heartbroken I was during the 2001 crisis seeing a city I loved so much burnt to the ground and people who have lived in harmony for decades suddenly take up arms and sides against each other. When it happened again in 2008 it proved, in my opinion, the dogged nature with which man can hate. This recent one proves nothing more than what we all feared: that with the phlegm of government to institute programmes that foster citizen interaction and understanding and failure to bring culprits to book, coupled with the increasing erection of walls along indigene-settler, religious and ethnic lines spurred in a lot of cases by some not so tactful columnists riding on a wave of inept leadership, the situation in Jos was akin to an unscrewed cork sitting atop a shaken bottle of champagne. This crisis has come and exerted its physical, economic and emotional tolls, could we now bow our heads and reflect on when we loved each other, lived and dined and married each other?
So much has been said in the media by different people representing different interests but I have yet to see anyone who dared mention the heroes of Jos crisis; and I mean every single one of them right from 2001. By heroes I mean those people on both sides who surmounted hatred and took the path of honour and neigbourliness to ensure the safety of their friends, colleagues and neighbours in the heat of the crisis. Examples are replete to buttress this fact, most of which I am afraid are not in black and white.
In Bukuru, around Gyero Road is the story of a middle-aged Muslim who while trying to pacify the hordes of Muslim youths going to attack Christians was slashed with a machete. My friend who recounted the incident did not wait long enough to see if the man survived or not, but if he did he no doubt would have an indelible souvenir from that incident. Then there is a story of a Muslim family that had been in Bukuru for over three decades whose home was completely razed down but found refuge with Christian neighbours until transport was arranged for them to Abuja, to safety. And back in 2001, I won’t forget a friend of mine from Gombe who was given shelter by a Muslim family in Angwan Rogo – ground zero as it was then – till they were able to bring her to the safety of the student hostels in the University of Jos. And while the cynics amongst us can rightfully question the authenticity of my sources, refer to the story of Kuru karama on allAfrica.com in which an Imam recounted how Christian youths beat a local pastor – to death or not, we do not know – when he tried to impress on them the virtue of tolerance.
What am I driving at here? Over the past few days there have been accusations and counter accusations which in my mind only serve to demonize our neighbours of the other faith inadvertently serving as crisis propaganda of sorts. We have forgotten that there are everyday heroes amongst us whose actions (and inaction in some cases) have exemplified the very virtues that we all are supposedly using the media to extol. Shouldn’t we cast these deeds in gold and have them serve as templates for action to those seeking to go beyond the hate? Should we not instead of demonizing ourselves highlight the great deeds that humans like us have exhibited in this present adversity? Should we not try to bring out the Jos crisis from the realm of strict group dynamics and interaction to that of personal interaction and propensities over which each of us has the capacity to control for the sake of peace in our respective domains? The situation in Jos is already becoming something of a leviathan to the country, what with states like Bauchi proposing to send away Plateau State citizens from their state; and I do not see it ending there.
Let us open our eyes and see that the devil is neither a Christian nor a Muslim nor yet the God they worship, but the hate in our hearts which reflects in our eyes and now increasingly in our deeds.
To those peace loving-people of Jos, everyday people amongst us who have through the hate shown virtue and neighbourliness, I urge to keep on in the path they have chosen and know that despite the seeming obscurity, we acknowledge their existence and praise their heroism. We must find common ground; we must live together, in peace. Old things have passed away, including partisanship and ethnicity and racism and nepotism and all the ills that could be perpetrated by or on a group of people.
Blessed are the peace makers for they shall see God!
Ehase Agyeno
Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital
Lafia
I was born and bred in Jos, and there is yet no city in this country that gives me the feeling of ‘home’ like Jos does. The scenery is breathtaking, the weather second to none and the people are probably the friendliest to be found in any part of this country (and I say this without any bias to any group in particular). Let me reiterate as a man of conscience that the killings and wanton destruction of property are shameful and godless acts that are condemnable by every standard; let he who thinks that killing in the name of religion either preemptively or by retaliation is justified correct me!
As a student of the University of Jos, I remember how stranded and heartbroken I was during the 2001 crisis seeing a city I loved so much burnt to the ground and people who have lived in harmony for decades suddenly take up arms and sides against each other. When it happened again in 2008 it proved, in my opinion, the dogged nature with which man can hate. This recent one proves nothing more than what we all feared: that with the phlegm of government to institute programmes that foster citizen interaction and understanding and failure to bring culprits to book, coupled with the increasing erection of walls along indigene-settler, religious and ethnic lines spurred in a lot of cases by some not so tactful columnists riding on a wave of inept leadership, the situation in Jos was akin to an unscrewed cork sitting atop a shaken bottle of champagne. This crisis has come and exerted its physical, economic and emotional tolls, could we now bow our heads and reflect on when we loved each other, lived and dined and married each other?
So much has been said in the media by different people representing different interests but I have yet to see anyone who dared mention the heroes of Jos crisis; and I mean every single one of them right from 2001. By heroes I mean those people on both sides who surmounted hatred and took the path of honour and neigbourliness to ensure the safety of their friends, colleagues and neighbours in the heat of the crisis. Examples are replete to buttress this fact, most of which I am afraid are not in black and white.
In Bukuru, around Gyero Road is the story of a middle-aged Muslim who while trying to pacify the hordes of Muslim youths going to attack Christians was slashed with a machete. My friend who recounted the incident did not wait long enough to see if the man survived or not, but if he did he no doubt would have an indelible souvenir from that incident. Then there is a story of a Muslim family that had been in Bukuru for over three decades whose home was completely razed down but found refuge with Christian neighbours until transport was arranged for them to Abuja, to safety. And back in 2001, I won’t forget a friend of mine from Gombe who was given shelter by a Muslim family in Angwan Rogo – ground zero as it was then – till they were able to bring her to the safety of the student hostels in the University of Jos. And while the cynics amongst us can rightfully question the authenticity of my sources, refer to the story of Kuru karama on allAfrica.com in which an Imam recounted how Christian youths beat a local pastor – to death or not, we do not know – when he tried to impress on them the virtue of tolerance.
What am I driving at here? Over the past few days there have been accusations and counter accusations which in my mind only serve to demonize our neighbours of the other faith inadvertently serving as crisis propaganda of sorts. We have forgotten that there are everyday heroes amongst us whose actions (and inaction in some cases) have exemplified the very virtues that we all are supposedly using the media to extol. Shouldn’t we cast these deeds in gold and have them serve as templates for action to those seeking to go beyond the hate? Should we not instead of demonizing ourselves highlight the great deeds that humans like us have exhibited in this present adversity? Should we not try to bring out the Jos crisis from the realm of strict group dynamics and interaction to that of personal interaction and propensities over which each of us has the capacity to control for the sake of peace in our respective domains? The situation in Jos is already becoming something of a leviathan to the country, what with states like Bauchi proposing to send away Plateau State citizens from their state; and I do not see it ending there.
Let us open our eyes and see that the devil is neither a Christian nor a Muslim nor yet the God they worship, but the hate in our hearts which reflects in our eyes and now increasingly in our deeds.
To those peace loving-people of Jos, everyday people amongst us who have through the hate shown virtue and neighbourliness, I urge to keep on in the path they have chosen and know that despite the seeming obscurity, we acknowledge their existence and praise their heroism. We must find common ground; we must live together, in peace. Old things have passed away, including partisanship and ethnicity and racism and nepotism and all the ills that could be perpetrated by or on a group of people.
Blessed are the peace makers for they shall see God!
Ehase Agyeno
Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital
Lafia
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