Committees upon committees that were set up to look into the remote causes of the crisis have all proved to be neglected or ignored by the leaders who were alleged to have hidden and vested interests in such crisis. Now, it is clear that the unfortunate incidences happening in the state had their roots deep down in the tribal/sectional cleansing to be perfected instead of the religious causes ascribed to the crisis which we were made to believe earlier.
Leaders and elders of the state have constituted themselves into a shame in the eyes of Nigerians and foreigners alike. Despite the new policy of rebranding the country, Plateau State is the one and only state in the federation interested in molesting and killing its own people in the name of indigeneship.
Some people in the state claim that the state is not part of northern Nigeria. Rather, it is situated in the middle belt region of the country. They claim the state no longer identifies as having the same culture with the northern people.
But it is pertinent to note that whether you are a northerner, middle belter, Birom, Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba, etc we are all accountable to Nigerians. It is the Nigerian constitution we respect, depend on and preserve for the unity and strength of this country.
Nigeria has reached the stage where it can no longer allow few selfish interest groups embark on unwanted genocide. How could some bloodthirsty leaders and elders turn an area into a war zone in the name of a ‘state’ to inflict heavy losses, damages and hardships on its own people? What crimes have they all committed to warrant their total elimination from the earth? Are they not part and parcel of the rapid development of the state?
Plateau State should remember it is rather unfortunately putting Nigeria in a position where it is being compared with other countries with a long history of conflicts.
Harassment, intimidation, maiming and killings of innocent lives are a ploy used by deviants to place their future generations at an advantage over and above the people who are the recipients of their persecution. But it is a failed strategy. President Robert Mugabe and late Joshua Nkomo suffered untold hardship in the hands of the colonial masters. The same treatment was meted out on Nelson Mandela in South Africa. A lot of Hutu and Tutsi people were maimed and killed in Rwanda in which up to the present time the leaders who ordered the genocide are still facing criminal charges at the Haig. Also, those leaders who committed all kinds of atrocities against humanity in Kosovo and Bosnia Herzegovina are now facing criminal charges in the Haig.
Plateau state is one out of 36 states of the federation where Muslims, Christians, Hausas, Fulani, Ibo, Yoruba and people of many other tribes are born and bred without having anywhere else to call a home.
The current US president had once called America “a nation of Muslims and Christians, Jews and Hindu – and non-believers.” Why then has Plateau State decided to wage war on its beloved ones?
The leaders of Plateau State, as a matter of fact, must try and seek the forgiveness of God who gives and takes away leadership whenever He wishes.
In the light of the above therefore, I would like to suggest to the federal government to set up a rehabilitation committee in order to address the following important issues in the state. The committee’s mandate should be funded from the Plateau State Government monthly subvention and should be used towards fulfilling the following:
1. Rebuild all burnt down, demolished or destroyed houses, mosques, churches, shops, etc with immediate effect.
2. Rehabilitate the people by paying good compensation to them, especially those survivors whose relatives were innocently killed.
3. Governor David Jang and his cabinet including the members of the state legislature should be made to face criminal charges for their gross negligence and abuse of power.
4. Scrap all commissions of inquiry because the setting up of such commissions of Inquiry is unnecessary. It does not serve the purpose for which it was established. There were series of them but none has achieved anything meaningful.
5. Lastly, the issue of relocation of the people or state creation should be discussed and implemented.
Alh. Gumel writes c/o Darmanawa Quarters, Tarauni Local Government Council, Kano State.Email: [email protected]
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