January 23, 2010
It has been a week since violence once again flared up in Jos. Hardly a year goes by without murder and mayhem being visited on what was once the most cosmopolitan and peaceful cities in the Federal Republic. Every year different reasons are trotted out, pastoralists versus farmers, Christians versus Muslims, indigenes versus non indigenes etc. Yet not a single person has been charged or prosecuted or convicted for participating in or instigating these disturbances. In 2008 26 of those captured were transferred to Abuja and have disappeared without a trace.
It has been a week since violence once again flared up in Jos. Hardly a year goes by without murder and mayhem being visited on what was once the most cosmopolitan and peaceful cities in the Federal Republic. Every year different reasons are trotted out, pastoralists versus farmers, Christians versus Muslims, indigenes versus non indigenes etc. Yet not a single person has been charged or prosecuted or convicted for participating in or instigating these disturbances. In 2008 26 of those captured were transferred to Abuja and have disappeared without a trace.
This latest one is even more curious in that a plethora of reasons have been given for its cause.
A Christian prevented a Muslim rebuilding his house
A Christian rebuilding his house encroached on the land of a Muslim neighbour
There was a dispute as to the result of a football match
A gang descended upon Christians leaving Sunday service
Christian gangs attacked Muslims
Even accounting for ‘the fog of war’ it is curious that an entire city can allegedly begin to murder itself for no apparent reason. It is also curious that the attacks seemed to encompass both religious groups almost simultaneously and the spread almost amorphously to surrounding towns and villages. The question must be asked: Who are these roving gangs of killers? Muslim gangs? Christian gangs? Hausa’s? Igbos? Tivs? Jukun? Who?
A subsequent question must be how much credence can be given to reports by the Plateau State Christian Elders’ Forum (PSCEF) Secretary General Dr Musa Pam, that men in quasi military uniform are going around killing and maiming Christians. According to the papers this gang was headquartered in the Federal Secretariat and deployed from there to conduct their attacks.
It is of the utmost importance that the Commander of the troops deployed to Jos investigates this claim and establish the identity of these persons. If they are truly soldiers of the Nigerian Army then were they acting under orders or as freelancers. In either case they took orders from somebody. The question is who? The Police Minister has warned that there are prominent citizens who are involved, so why cant he name them? What exactly can the minister in charge of enforcing law and order do if he can not name people he suspects of being party to criminal activities.
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All of this puts me in mind of two conversations I had with two very different people. One man who in the course of a general conversation told me that prior to Abacha’s death concrete steps were being taken to overthrow him. He said that arms and ammunition had been deposited all over the Federation and at a signal mercenaries both locally recruited and from abroad would begin unleashing mayhem. The objective of this was to cause such a breakdown of law and order that widespread deployment of troops would be required to keep the peace. This scenario would give the coup plotters the opportunity to concentrate sufficient troops to launch their coup and overthrow Abacha. Fortunately this qausi-Rwanda scheme was never implemented as Abacha cheated the hangman he so richly deserved by dying his ignoble death. At the time I dismissed this as not only a fetched scenario but also as a most stupid and cruel plan, particularly by people purporting to be trying to save Nigeria.
However the seemingly pointless and spontaneous nature of the current give rise to concerns. What if this is the beginning of a version of this scheme targeted not at Abacha but at Jonathon. All reports so far seem to indicate that the Yar’ Adua cabal is giving up the fight (or has looted or plotted sufficiently) and Jonathon might be granted full executive powers.
If for example there were further outbreaks of violence all around the North, moving closer and closer to Abuja or Kaduna, with MEND reactivating itself causing massive troop movements the conditions would be right for a group of ‘concerned’ military men to launch a coup, obviously to defend the constitution and restore Nigeria’s good name.
These men will not necessarily be obviously of the same pedigree as the Yar Adua cabal but as we have seen that particular group in multi tribal and multi faith.
· At the very least the Police should invite these prominent citizens hinted at for questioning.
· The Army should seek to reassure the public by investigating the claims of fake soldiers
· The individuals arrested should be charged and publicly identified
· The Police/ SSS should state clearly what has happened to the group arrested in 2008
· The results of the various enquiries should be published and more importantly acted on
All of this is hypothesis, other than the claims that have not been independently verified I cannot say any of this is happening, but if there should be other spontaneous outbreaks of violence in the country I would be prepared for a very dead Jonathon and a very dead country.
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This latest one is even more curious in that a plethora of reasons have been given for its cause.
A Christian prevented a Muslim rebuilding his house
A Christian rebuilding his house encroached on the land of a Muslim neighbour
There was a dispute as to the result of a football match
A gang descended upon Christians leaving Sunday service
Christian gangs attacked Muslims
Even accounting for ‘the fog of war’ it is curious that an entire city can allegedly begin to murder itself for no apparent reason. It is also curious that the attacks seemed to encompass both religious groups almost simultaneously and the spread almost amorphously to surrounding towns and villages. The question must be asked: Who are these roving gangs of killers? Muslim gangs? Christian gangs? Hausa’s? Igbos? Tivs? Jukun? Who?
A subsequent question must be how much credence can be given to reports by the Plateau State Christian Elders’ Forum (PSCEF) Secretary General Dr Musa Pam, that men in quasi military uniform are going around killing and maiming Christians. According to the papers this gang was headquartered in the Federal Secretariat and deployed from there to conduct their attacks.
It is of the utmost importance that the Commander of the troops deployed to Jos investigates this claim and establish the identity of these persons. If they are truly soldiers of the Nigerian Army then were they acting under orders or as freelancers. In either case they took orders from somebody. The question is who? The Police Minister has warned that there are prominent citizens who are involved, so why cant he name them? What exactly can the minister in charge of enforcing law and order do if he can not name people he suspects of being party to criminal activities.
articleadslinks
All of this puts me in mind of two conversations I had with two very different people. One man who in the course of a general conversation told me that prior to Abacha’s death concrete steps were being taken to overthrow him. He said that arms and ammunition had been deposited all over the Federation and at a signal mercenaries both locally recruited and from abroad would begin unleashing mayhem. The objective of this was to cause such a breakdown of law and order that widespread deployment of troops would be required to keep the peace. This scenario would give the coup plotters the opportunity to concentrate sufficient troops to launch their coup and overthrow Abacha. Fortunately this qausi-Rwanda scheme was never implemented as Abacha cheated the hangman he so richly deserved by dying his ignoble death. At the time I dismissed this as not only a fetched scenario but also as a most stupid and cruel plan, particularly by people purporting to be trying to save Nigeria.
However the seemingly pointless and spontaneous nature of the current give rise to concerns. What if this is the beginning of a version of this scheme targeted not at Abacha but at Jonathon. All reports so far seem to indicate that the Yar’ Adua cabal is giving up the fight (or has looted or plotted sufficiently) and Jonathon might be granted full executive powers.
If for example there were further outbreaks of violence all around the North, moving closer and closer to Abuja or Kaduna, with MEND reactivating itself causing massive troop movements the conditions would be right for a group of ‘concerned’ military men to launch a coup, obviously to defend the constitution and restore Nigeria’s good name.
These men will not necessarily be obviously of the same pedigree as the Yar Adua cabal but as we have seen that particular group in multi tribal and multi faith.
· At the very least the Police should invite these prominent citizens hinted at for questioning.
· The Army should seek to reassure the public by investigating the claims of fake soldiers
· The individuals arrested should be charged and publicly identified
· The Police/ SSS should state clearly what has happened to the group arrested in 2008
· The results of the various enquiries should be published and more importantly acted on
All of this is hypothesis, other than the claims that have not been independently verified I cannot say any of this is happening, but if there should be other spontaneous outbreaks of violence in the country I would be prepared for a very dead Jonathon and a very dead country.
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