With its temperate weather, Jos, capital of Plateau state, offers a natural
attraction for tourists, particularly Europeans, who crave a feel of home
weather. Last Friday, however, things turned intemperate when the 'Tin-City'
exploded as ethnic and religious passions contrived to ignite hugely violent
riots.
Though the exact magnitude of the riots is yet to be determined, reports from
the Plateau State capital have been sufficiently grotesque. As at Monday, the
death toll was conservatively put at about 200 with more than double the figure
injured and receiving treatment in various hospitals. Also, scores of homes,
market stalls, shops and other buildings were burnt in the orgy which only
subsided on Sunday.
With the insecurity engendered by the riots, indigenes and other residents have
been scurrying out of the city. Business and commercial activities have,
naturally, been paralysed. The result has been acute shortage of food items,
leading to an unprecedented steep ascent in prices. According to TEMPO
investigation, a loaf of bread, which sold for N30 before the riots, now goes
for N150 where any could be found.
Added to this are shortages of treatment and mortuary facilities which have
been stretched way beyond their limits. The mortuaries at the Jos University
Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and the Plateau State Specialist Hospital Jos, each
have a raft of corpses most of which were deposited on the floor for lack of
space. This has sparked, among residents a fear of a likely outbreak of an
epidemic which may push up the death toll. Just like the magnitude of the
mayhem, the causes of the riots have remained confounding. There is no such
thing as a straight account of what inflamed passions. One account has it that
the fuse was lit at a mosque in Anguwan Rogo, a predominantly Muslim
neighbourhood, during last Friday's Jumat prayers. According to the account,
some Muslims were observing the Friday ritual when the sighted an unnamed girl,
spotting a miniskirt, considered abhorrent by Islamic standards.
The girl's path was blocked by one of the worshippers who labelled her an
unbeliever and should be disciplined for daring to walk by the mosque in a
mini-skirt. She was allegedly chased to her home where she was dragged out and
beaten up along with her father. Rev. Ishaga Kungiuna, Vicar of the Methodist
Church, Nassarawa Gwon, claimed to have heard this account, but offers another
one.
This says that the some Muslims were worshipping in the same mosque when some
Christians attacked them on the excuse that they had blocked the road, making
passage impossible for other road users. The attack sparked a reprisal which
grew in ferocity and size, spreading to other parts of the city as the two
sides became rampant.
According to an eye witness, either side went out venom- filled. The Christians
were said to have gone round asking people if they were Christians as well as
Hausa/Fulani. A proof was exacted by asking the victim to recite the Lord's
prayer. Flunking this, the witness says, resulted in instant death.
The Christians assailant are said to have been largely made up of Birom people,
who claim to be the aborigines in Jos.
Similarly, the Muslims also went in search of scalps, combing the town for
Christians. Like their adversaries, a test was administered to determine the
truth or otherwise of a victim's claims. Cornered victims were asked to pray in
the Muslim way. Inability to accomplish this means the shortest route to death.
Like wildfire, the rage spread with the biggest impact in Ahmadu Bello, Billimi
, Bauchi Road, Russia and Angwan Rimi, where Muslims were said to have had a
field day because of their numerical advantage in these areas. The Christian
'soldiers' were said to have had the upper hand in Bukuru. The premises of the
Police Staff College, Bukuru is currently heaving from the throng of Muslims
who have sought refuge there. Shops, homes and cars belonging to Muslims were
feverishly sought and burnt.
A victim, Mrs. Margaret Ebhu, who lost her husband, told TEMPO that her home
was attacked by Hausa people who came with machetes and guns. During the
attack, her husband was killed while she has not seen one of her children -
Moses- since the riot broke out on Friday.
Five churches, a cinema house and numerous vehicles were burnt on Friday before
the combatants' vigour waned. Despite heavy police presence, the fighting grew
more intense on Saturday. According to Mrs. Eblu, the combatants rose as early
as 5 am. Five churches, a cinema house and numerous buildings were reduced to
ashes on Friday before the combatants' vigour waned. The scale of the
destruction attracted the imposition of a curfew between 6 pm and 7am, by the
Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Micheal Bokmag. Bokmag is standing in for
the governor, Mr. Joshua Dariye, who was in London for a two-week vacation.
That, however, did not stem the flow of the rage. As early as 5 am on Saturday,
the combatants were out to continue the mayhem. Soldiers from the 3rd Armoured
Corps, Jos, were drafted to complement the efforts of the police.
They were however ordered not to shoot. All Muslims at Gada Biu Motor Park were
said to have been killed. The same occurred at Tesha Adamu. A car lot, Yanifo
Motors at Jemta, behind Central Hotel, lost over 100 cars to the rioters.
The intensity of the riots forced the acting governor, Mr. Bokmag, to edjusted
the curfew. The curfew was then adjusted to start at 4 pm and end at 7 am.
Still the rioters could not be curtailed as fighting spilled over to Sunday
morning.
The fighting however, subsided late on Sunday, but unconfirmed reports say that
killings were being carried out secretly. This was said to have spilled over to
Monday morning when relative calm returned to the city as skeletal commercial
activities resumed.
Meanwhile, the Plateau State governor, Chief Joshua Dariye, returned from
vacation and has appealed to the two feuding sides to sheathe their swords.
While the Jos mayhem appeared to have been ticked off by religious sentiment,
available evidence suggest that politics as much as religion and ethnicity, is
responsible for the three-day rage. Information available to this magazine
reveal that hints of the disturbances had been evidence since last month. The
first hint was the rejection by non-Hausa indigenes of the city of Alhaji Usman
Muktar Mohammed, recently appointed coordinator National Poverty Eradication
Programme (NAPEP) in Jos North Local Government Area. Muktari Mohammed's
rejection manifested at a press conference held on 21 August, where indigenes
of Plateau State under the umbrella of the Plateau Youth Council (PYC), called
on President Olusegun Obasanjo to withdraw the appointment without which there
would be a crisis. PYC considered the appointment of Muktari as an attempt by
the People's Democratic Party (PDP), to further aid the domination of Biroms by
the Hausa/Fulani. The PYC argued that Mohammed was not an indigene of the state
and, was
not eligible to represent their interests. The PYC also called on the President
to drop in the names of streets named after Hausa/Fulani, in the state and
rename such streets after indigenes. According to the group, naming streets in
the state after non-indigenes is an erosion of their cultural identity and a
slap on their pride.
In an apparent reaction to the rejection of Muktar Mohammed, the Hausa Fulani,
however, countered the Birom claims. A group known as the "Hausa Fulani
Youths Under-25" claims that Jos North belongs to the Hausa/Fulani rather
than the Biroms, Anagutas and Afizeris. Advertising its readiness to take on
any challenger to its claims, the group was said to have circulated leaflets
bearing belligerent statements such as "Enough is Enough",
"Blood For Blood, We are ready. Let's see who has more deposit of ready
strikers," Vote for Moslem as chairman of Jos North Local
Government." However, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Mohammed Abubakar, said the police were caught unawares. Abubakar's claims
suggests that the police, despite the earlier positions by both sides, did not
catch a whiff of the trouble.
Relationship between the Hausa /Fulani and the other ethnic groups- Biroms,
Anaguta, Afizere- in Jos has been less than blissful. In 1991, the two sides
went to war over the creation of Jos-South Local Council. The General Ibrahim
Babangida regime split the city into Jos-South and Jos-North local councils,
apparently to calm frequently jangled nerves.
The reverse however, was the case as the creation of the council rekindled
age-long rows over the 'owners ' of the council. The Hausa/Fulani were excited
over the creation, believing that Jos North was strictly theirs while the South
was for the Birom. This led to a suggestion, by the Hausa Fulani, that the
Birom should relocate the headquarters of Jos South, Bukuru, leaving them
(Hausa Fulani) in Jos North.
Also, the Hausa/Fulani demanded that the palace of the traditional rulers of
Jos Gbong Gwon Jos, Dr. Fom Bot, be relocated to Bukuru, the perceived base of
the Birom. The Hausa/Fulani had demanded this with a view to having an Emir
installed. However, the move was resisted without any nasty eventuality.
But the mutual animosity remained latent, seeping to the fore in 1994. Former
military administrator of the state, Col. Mohammed Mana, appointed one Alhaji
Sanusi Mato, a Hausa and Muslim, as the sole administrator of Jos North Local
Government Council. Mato's appointment stoked the latent rage as crisis
engulfed the city, resulting in the loss of many lives and large-scale
destruction of properties.
Mana, however, had to withdraw the appointment before calm returned to the
city. The report of the panel of enquiry set up to find out the cause of the
disturbance, produced a stunning revelation. The report described the
Hausa/Fulani in Plateau as citizen, not indigenes. The report argued that the
root of the Hausa-Fulani race was not Jos but somewhere in he far North. This
was given further amplification, last weak, by the PYC which urged the
government to halt the taking of Hausa-Fulani traditional titles by indigenes'.
Such, the PYC advised, should be substituted by indigenous ones.
Local observers of the crisis have linked it to the resurgence of the agitation
for a distinct identity for the Middle Belt zone. Since 1999, agitation for the
recognition of the Middle Belt, as a geo-political zone distinct from the
North, has been on the rise.
To this end, various groups, in the zone, have advertised their readiness to
sever its, political links with the far north. The Middle-Belt has continued to
accuse the Hausa-Fulani of perennial political repression and marginalisation.
Some form of normalcy has, however, returned to Jos. As at Tuesday, afternoon,
the fighting had stopped and a few people were seen walking on the streets
which had been desolate over the weekend. A few shops also opened for business.
However, there are still fears that a relapse may occur. Added to this is the
unconfirmed rumour that the Hausa/Fulani have poisoned the source of water
supply to the city, to kill as many Biroms as possible. The Plateau State Water
Board on Tuesday denied the rumour making the rounds that the water from it
pumps had been poisoned by the Hausa in order to kill Christians who were said
to have wreaked havoc on the Hausas. A statement by the water board said it is
untrue as the water is fit for drinking. In between the calm and the fears,
victims continue to tell tales of horror.
At the Police staff, College Clinic, Ibrahim Abdulahi who was stabbed in the
back was being transferred to JUTH to proper medical attention. Some of the
victims of the clinic included Adamu Yussuf Musa who was shot in the eye and
may be blind forever. Adamu Yussuf also still has bullets lodged in his
buttocks. Ahmed Tyaki and Abdullahi bear machete wounds on their heads.
They claim that assailant attacked then with cutlasses, spears and bows and
arrows in and inflicted wounds on them.
Despite the religious hue of the crisis, a few lucky Christian residents say
they were protected by some Muslims who shielded them in their (Muslim) homes.