July 14, 2010
A few weeks ago I joined a group on Facebook called “I grew up in Jos and I loved” that group had, and still does, pictures of Jos in yester years. There were pictures that showed Jos in its splendour, from the then main market at Terminus (It was the largest in West Africa) to the many hills that promised peace and tranquillity. Jos used to be an oasis of calm and peace in a very turbulent North. I was bred in Jos, I was taken there as a two year old and left a grown man 24 years later. I still have ties with Jos and still visit anytime I am home, time permitting. There is no part of Plateau state I have not been to so nobody can accuse of me of not knowing the place.
I had always put off contributing to the many articles that have been written about Jos in the face of incessant blood letting. I have always held back because I did not want to cause offence to some of the people I grew up with. Whilst the Facebook group elicited nostalgia in many people in the group, as evident from their postings, I was filled with seething anger at the needless destruction of the peace that once reigned in this state. It was this that finally drove me into writing this piece. Some may find this piece offensive, but my aim is to state out the truth as far as I can recollect.
Anyone who does not know the history of Plateau state before the recent quarterly blood letting can be forgiven for thinking the state is populated by savage intolerant indigenes hell bent on wreaking havoc on all outsiders. After every crisis it is common to find on internet boards comments like “what is wrong with these Plateau people self?”, “State of emergency should be declared”, “Jang should be sacked” et al. Most of such views are informed by ignorance. In this piece I will try and paint a picture of Plateau state in the pre crisis years, a quick fire run through the crisis ridden years, the causes and present day. It may be laborious and long winded and requires patient reading!
I spent most of my childhood in Jenta which was then a microcosm of Nigeria; this area had Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, indigenous Plateau people and Urhobos. Back then it was one big love fest, we went everywhere, there were no go areas, during Christmas we sent food the Hausas and they gladly reciprocated during Sallah. I recalled asking my mum why it was always a Hausa man that slaughtered the Christmas goat or ram, her explanation was that they were good at it and because we had to send part of it to our Muslim neighbours. My mind was too young then to understand the concept of Halal. I had a happy upbringing in Jos and “dan Bendel” as I was called suffered no discrimination of any sort
The first time I stayed outside Jenta was when I went to secondary school at Government Science School Kuru. That school showed the generosity and fairness at the heart of the Plateau people. It was one of the better schools and most parents fought to get their children in. My admission was based on merit and I did not have to lie about my STATE OF ORIGIN. At Kuru we had students from all over the country; there were no discriminatory fees, southerners all paid same fees as indigenes. At the end of every term, we the southerners were given more money than the indigenes for transport fares. All the school did was to look at your state of origin as stated in your file, regardless of where you resided and gave out transport fares based on that. That meant that somebody like my good friend who was from Kuru village got only 10% of what I was given and this school was funded by the state and not Federal government. Talk about generosity and fairness!
The above point is important as my cousins and family friends from the south who lived in places like Kano and Bauchi states had to either change their names to Hausa ones to gain admission into the state run schools or send their wards to Jos or back to the south to school. Whereas Plateau state accommodated all that came, these states put in discriminatory policies against non indigenes including those of Plateau state origin. Back then, Plateau state was an example of what all the federating units of the Nigeria should be, nobody was discriminated against on the basis of religion or ethnicity. Not just that, the state was immune from the religious / ethnic riots of Kano, Bornu and Kaduna states. So what changed Plateau state from the “Home of Peace and Tourism” to the “Home of Pieces and Terrorism” as described by Jan Boer in his book Nigeria’s Decade of Blood?
The seed of present day strife in Plateau state was planted by Gen Ibrahim Babangida way back in 1991 when he enacted Decree No 2 which split Jos into three local government areas; East, North and South. This decree was primarily to satisfy segments of the Hausa / Fulani community in Jos who had the ears of IBB in Abuja. The aim of the decree was to create a political sphere of influence for the Hausas and to counter the introduction of the indigenes certificate by the then Jos LGA Chairman the late E.T Bot.
Prior to the election of E.T Bot as the LGA Chairman of Jos, the indigenes were starting to fret about the Hausas filling up the states and LGA’s quota at the federal level. People who were not from Plateau state were appointed based on claims that they were from Jos and Plateau state. Because of this and the discriminatory policies by other Hausa states, they decided to introduce an indigenes certificate which anybody seeking appointment had to present. Plateau state was not doing anything different from other states in the country, they had simply stepped back from the ideal into “reality”, after all what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Whilst other communities accepted this, the Hausas were having none of it and they went crying to IBB at Abuja who wasted no time in summoning E.T Bot to Abuja for what turned out to be a dressing down. A furious IBB told Mr Bot he must sign indigenes certificates for Hausas (not Igbos, Urhobos or Yourubas) and warned him of the consequences of not doing so. All attempts to explain were rebuffed by IBB and it came as no surprise when two months later Mr Bot was removed from office and Jos split into three. I know this much because I have been close to the Bot family since my days at Kuru.
In a bid to promote the parochial interests of kinsmen, IBB ignored the advice of stakeholders against splitting Jos up as it was going to exacerbate ethnic and religious fears. And that was exactly what followed. In no time the Hausas started calling themselves JASSAWAS. Up until this time there was no name like JASSAWAS, it was fraudulently made up to confer a semblance of legitimacy on the ludicrous claim of the Hausas as the true owners of Jos. They will tell you that JASSAWAS are the real owners of Jos. But what they will not tell you is that only Hausas including those who probably just relocated from other states can be referred to as JASSAWA. My siblings who were born at Maternity Hospital, a mere stone throw from the Jos Mosque do not qualify, just like the Igbos, Yourubas and Beroms in Kabong or Laranto whose ancestors were there before even the rocks and hills of Jos Plateau were formed! The Hausas further inflamed the situation by calling for the relocation the palace of the Gbom Gwom, the paramount ruler of the Beroms, from its present location to Bukuru in Jos South because the area was theirs. Can you imagine Igbos or Yourubas calling for the relocation of the Palace of Ado Bayero of Kano?
Lets be clear, the Hausas had enclaves around Bauchi Road, Nasarawa, Dilimi and Angwar Rimi, Angwar Rogo, but there were other ethnic groups in these areas also. There were large Youruba communities in Nassarawa until they were ethnically cleansed out by the Hausas. Tafawa Balewa, Jenta, Tudun Wada, Zaria Road, Gada Biu, Rukuba Road, Low Cost etc are all large swathes of Jos North populated by non Hausas yet they believe they are the majority in Jos North and deserve to occupy all key positions in Jos North, delusions of grandeur or madness? Either case they don’t come out smelling of roses.
IBB’s partition of Jos made the indigenes to become politically aware and created ill feeling towards the Hausas. Such came to the fore when a Muslim military administrator appointed a Hausa man to head Jos North in 1994. The indigenes protested (PEACFULLY) the appointment and it was reversed within days. This did not go down well with the Hausas who immediately embarked on what was to become their own unique way or expressing any grievance: burning and killing of non Hausas. That event in 1994 marked the death of innocence on the Plateau, the fabric of peace had been irrevocably torn. Soon after one crisis after the other followed, the Hausas used every spurious excuse to protest in that unique way of theirs: A woman crossing where they were praying, rigged elections etc every excuse was used to cause mayhem in Jos.
It is clear that there are people and forces working towards the destruction of Jos and Plateau state. Is it a case of “if I cant have it then no one would?”. The Yar Adua Government failed woefully in its approach to the crisis in Jos. Yar Adua like IBB acted like a President of just the Hausa people and not of all in Plateau state. General Buhari as Chairman of the PTF under Abacha showed his bias by concentrating development in only Hausa areas of Jos. OBJ did not want to be seen as supporting his fellow Christians and as such ended up short changing the indigenes of Plateau state. Is Jonathan Goodluck going to be any different? Will he have the courage to confront these dark forces who believe they can kill with impunity? Whatever happened to all the people arrested in previous riots and who were taken to Abuja? For those who are quick to condemn Plateau state indigenes, I ask you this: What have they done different from other Federating units of Nigeria?
I am a pragmatist and I don’t see Jos returning to its pre 1990s glory, at least not in our lifetimes. I suspect there will be occasional blood letting but over all the Hausas will continue to live apart from others and the peace that will persist will be that of the graveyard.
I had always put off contributing to the many articles that have been written about Jos in the face of incessant blood letting. I have always held back because I did not want to cause offence to some of the people I grew up with. Whilst the Facebook group elicited nostalgia in many people in the group, as evident from their postings, I was filled with seething anger at the needless destruction of the peace that once reigned in this state. It was this that finally drove me into writing this piece. Some may find this piece offensive, but my aim is to state out the truth as far as I can recollect.
Anyone who does not know the history of Plateau state before the recent quarterly blood letting can be forgiven for thinking the state is populated by savage intolerant indigenes hell bent on wreaking havoc on all outsiders. After every crisis it is common to find on internet boards comments like “what is wrong with these Plateau people self?”, “State of emergency should be declared”, “Jang should be sacked” et al. Most of such views are informed by ignorance. In this piece I will try and paint a picture of Plateau state in the pre crisis years, a quick fire run through the crisis ridden years, the causes and present day. It may be laborious and long winded and requires patient reading!
I spent most of my childhood in Jenta which was then a microcosm of Nigeria; this area had Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, indigenous Plateau people and Urhobos. Back then it was one big love fest, we went everywhere, there were no go areas, during Christmas we sent food the Hausas and they gladly reciprocated during Sallah. I recalled asking my mum why it was always a Hausa man that slaughtered the Christmas goat or ram, her explanation was that they were good at it and because we had to send part of it to our Muslim neighbours. My mind was too young then to understand the concept of Halal. I had a happy upbringing in Jos and “dan Bendel” as I was called suffered no discrimination of any sort
The first time I stayed outside Jenta was when I went to secondary school at Government Science School Kuru. That school showed the generosity and fairness at the heart of the Plateau people. It was one of the better schools and most parents fought to get their children in. My admission was based on merit and I did not have to lie about my STATE OF ORIGIN. At Kuru we had students from all over the country; there were no discriminatory fees, southerners all paid same fees as indigenes. At the end of every term, we the southerners were given more money than the indigenes for transport fares. All the school did was to look at your state of origin as stated in your file, regardless of where you resided and gave out transport fares based on that. That meant that somebody like my good friend who was from Kuru village got only 10% of what I was given and this school was funded by the state and not Federal government. Talk about generosity and fairness!
The above point is important as my cousins and family friends from the south who lived in places like Kano and Bauchi states had to either change their names to Hausa ones to gain admission into the state run schools or send their wards to Jos or back to the south to school. Whereas Plateau state accommodated all that came, these states put in discriminatory policies against non indigenes including those of Plateau state origin. Back then, Plateau state was an example of what all the federating units of the Nigeria should be, nobody was discriminated against on the basis of religion or ethnicity. Not just that, the state was immune from the religious / ethnic riots of Kano, Bornu and Kaduna states. So what changed Plateau state from the “Home of Peace and Tourism” to the “Home of Pieces and Terrorism” as described by Jan Boer in his book Nigeria’s Decade of Blood?
The seed of present day strife in Plateau state was planted by Gen Ibrahim Babangida way back in 1991 when he enacted Decree No 2 which split Jos into three local government areas; East, North and South. This decree was primarily to satisfy segments of the Hausa / Fulani community in Jos who had the ears of IBB in Abuja. The aim of the decree was to create a political sphere of influence for the Hausas and to counter the introduction of the indigenes certificate by the then Jos LGA Chairman the late E.T Bot.
Prior to the election of E.T Bot as the LGA Chairman of Jos, the indigenes were starting to fret about the Hausas filling up the states and LGA’s quota at the federal level. People who were not from Plateau state were appointed based on claims that they were from Jos and Plateau state. Because of this and the discriminatory policies by other Hausa states, they decided to introduce an indigenes certificate which anybody seeking appointment had to present. Plateau state was not doing anything different from other states in the country, they had simply stepped back from the ideal into “reality”, after all what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Whilst other communities accepted this, the Hausas were having none of it and they went crying to IBB at Abuja who wasted no time in summoning E.T Bot to Abuja for what turned out to be a dressing down. A furious IBB told Mr Bot he must sign indigenes certificates for Hausas (not Igbos, Urhobos or Yourubas) and warned him of the consequences of not doing so. All attempts to explain were rebuffed by IBB and it came as no surprise when two months later Mr Bot was removed from office and Jos split into three. I know this much because I have been close to the Bot family since my days at Kuru.
In a bid to promote the parochial interests of kinsmen, IBB ignored the advice of stakeholders against splitting Jos up as it was going to exacerbate ethnic and religious fears. And that was exactly what followed. In no time the Hausas started calling themselves JASSAWAS. Up until this time there was no name like JASSAWAS, it was fraudulently made up to confer a semblance of legitimacy on the ludicrous claim of the Hausas as the true owners of Jos. They will tell you that JASSAWAS are the real owners of Jos. But what they will not tell you is that only Hausas including those who probably just relocated from other states can be referred to as JASSAWA. My siblings who were born at Maternity Hospital, a mere stone throw from the Jos Mosque do not qualify, just like the Igbos, Yourubas and Beroms in Kabong or Laranto whose ancestors were there before even the rocks and hills of Jos Plateau were formed! The Hausas further inflamed the situation by calling for the relocation the palace of the Gbom Gwom, the paramount ruler of the Beroms, from its present location to Bukuru in Jos South because the area was theirs. Can you imagine Igbos or Yourubas calling for the relocation of the Palace of Ado Bayero of Kano?
Lets be clear, the Hausas had enclaves around Bauchi Road, Nasarawa, Dilimi and Angwar Rimi, Angwar Rogo, but there were other ethnic groups in these areas also. There were large Youruba communities in Nassarawa until they were ethnically cleansed out by the Hausas. Tafawa Balewa, Jenta, Tudun Wada, Zaria Road, Gada Biu, Rukuba Road, Low Cost etc are all large swathes of Jos North populated by non Hausas yet they believe they are the majority in Jos North and deserve to occupy all key positions in Jos North, delusions of grandeur or madness? Either case they don’t come out smelling of roses.
IBB’s partition of Jos made the indigenes to become politically aware and created ill feeling towards the Hausas. Such came to the fore when a Muslim military administrator appointed a Hausa man to head Jos North in 1994. The indigenes protested (PEACFULLY) the appointment and it was reversed within days. This did not go down well with the Hausas who immediately embarked on what was to become their own unique way or expressing any grievance: burning and killing of non Hausas. That event in 1994 marked the death of innocence on the Plateau, the fabric of peace had been irrevocably torn. Soon after one crisis after the other followed, the Hausas used every spurious excuse to protest in that unique way of theirs: A woman crossing where they were praying, rigged elections etc every excuse was used to cause mayhem in Jos.
It is clear that there are people and forces working towards the destruction of Jos and Plateau state. Is it a case of “if I cant have it then no one would?”. The Yar Adua Government failed woefully in its approach to the crisis in Jos. Yar Adua like IBB acted like a President of just the Hausa people and not of all in Plateau state. General Buhari as Chairman of the PTF under Abacha showed his bias by concentrating development in only Hausa areas of Jos. OBJ did not want to be seen as supporting his fellow Christians and as such ended up short changing the indigenes of Plateau state. Is Jonathan Goodluck going to be any different? Will he have the courage to confront these dark forces who believe they can kill with impunity? Whatever happened to all the people arrested in previous riots and who were taken to Abuja? For those who are quick to condemn Plateau state indigenes, I ask you this: What have they done different from other Federating units of Nigeria?
I am a pragmatist and I don’t see Jos returning to its pre 1990s glory, at least not in our lifetimes. I suspect there will be occasional blood letting but over all the Hausas will continue to live apart from others and the peace that will persist will be that of the graveyard.
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