Transcript A Kaleidoscope of Conflicts in Plateau

An overview of the Jos Plateau
Conflicts: January 2010-January
2011
G N S Pwajok
Director-General
Research and Planning
Governor’s Office
Plateau State, Nigeria
Presented on occasion of the Nigeria Briefing: on the Anniversary of
the March 2010 massacres in Jos Crisis, with the Theme: JosPlateau Conflict: Africa’s New Sudan Crisis? March 8, 2011 ,
Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
Opening

One major challenge of democratic consolidation is the challenge of
ensuring a proper balance between the military and the civilian
populace… another critical challenge is the matter of redirecting the
armed forces to ensure democratic subordination to civil democratic
authority.
-Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike

The situation in Plateau is more than what we see on the surface.
-Senate President David Mark

If we could first know where we are and wither we are tending, we
could better judge what to do and how to do it.
-Abraham Lincoln
One of the 36 States in Nigeria
Plateau

Plateau State is one of the 36 States that make up the Federal
Republic of Nigeria

The State is located within latitude 80° 22’ North and 100° 24’
South and latitude 80° East and has a total land area of
26,899sq kilometers. It shares a common boundary with
Nassarawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Taraba and Benue States

The name Plateau is derived from the
predominant
geographical landscape in the Central Nigeria area popularly
known as Middle-Belt of Nigeria and is blessed with undulating
highlands characterized by hills ranging from 500 to 1600
meters above sea level, peaking at 1,829m at Shere Hills in Jos
The Land
Undulating landscape and
hydrological source of Rivers
Temperate climate,
vast Tourism potentials and
attractions
Population
Often referred to as a
miniature Nigeria,
Plateau State is
culturally diverse (with
some 50 ethnic groups),
populated by an
estimated 3.2 million
people (2006 census)
and structured into 17
Local Government
Areas, each with an
elected Local
Government Council.
A Safe Harbor
From the time of its creation
in 1976, Plateau State
managed to stay relatively
and comparatively out of the
troubled waters of religious
intolerance and tragic
violence. In fact, Jos which
is the capital of the State
came to serve as a safe
heaven for those moving out
of conflict areas in Northern
Nigeria, largely on account
of its hospitality, and
generally accommodating
predisposition as home for
many including Europeans,
Americans and Asians
The 10 Best of Nigeria: The Business
Environment Score Sheet
The 2009 rating on the
Best of Nigeria by the African
Institute of Applied
Economics (AIAE) in
collaboration with the
Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) and the National
Planning Commission
published in 1st October
ranks Plateau 4th amongst
the States of the federation
The nation’s score sheet
in the democratic
experiment, responsive
and responsible
governance, political and
economic reforms and
management of the
economy which assures
Nigeria a place in the
global scheme of things
shows Plateau as 4th ,
after Lagos, FCT and
Cross Rivers
Escalating
Crisis
Sadly, this picture
of a “Home of
Peace and
Tourism” has
changed to what
some may call a
“Home of Pieces
and Terrorism”
with a catalogue
of escalating
crisis incidents
Perpetrators and Victims
For the umpteenth time, Jos, which has not known
peace since the inception of the country's democracy
ten years ago, witnessed several attacks including
multiple bomb blasts on Christmas eve 2010 claiming
many lives and properties
Christians and Muslims, indigenes and non-indigenes
have become both perpetrators and victims.
These has stretched the capacities of the people and
government of the State, Federal as well as agencies
and stakeholders who have tried to intervene
…more than what we can see?

Nigerians this time around, are finding it difficult to
reconcile a situation where the police and the army,
which are said to be involved in a joint operation as a
panacea for averting further occurrences, are gradually
drawn into the arena of conflict
which has not
deescalated, attesting to the fact that the situation in Jos
is more than what we can see on the surface

using the Plateau experience, we need to take a close
look at the dramatic changes in human organization,
thought and behavior, which are taking place all over the
world.
Global Trends and Tensions

The world is entering a new era in which the source of
conflict will be based on cultural divisions rather than
ideology or economic forces. Some scholars maintain
that conflict will occur along fault lines that divide
civilization. While others are of the view that the
simultaneous forces of global disintegration and global
homogenization constitute the primary sources of
future conflict. In other words the forces of “Jihad and
MacWorld” operate with equal strength in opposite
directions.
Beyond the horizon of current events

Just beyond the horizon of current events lie two possible
political futures, both bleak, neither democratic. The first is a
retribalisation of large swaths of human kind by war and
bloodshed: a threatened lebonization of national states in which
culture is pitted against culture, people against people, tribe
against tribe, a jihad in the name of hundred narrowly conceived
faiths against every kind of interdependence, every kind of
artificial social cooperation and civil mutuality. The second is
borne in on us by the on rush of economic and social forces that
demand integration and uniformity and that mesmerize the world
with fast music and fast food with MTV Macintosh and
MacDonald, pressing nations into commercially homogenous
global network: One MacWorld tied together by technology,
ecology, communications and commerce. The planet is falling
precipitately apart and coming together at the very same moment.
These tendencies are sometimes visible in the same country at
the same time (Berber: 2000, 23)
Projections on Nigeria
If we turn our search light to the Nigerian
experience, we have similar projections.
In the 90’s the United State Department
Bureau of Intelligence and Research
made the following incisive points of
analysis of Nigeria in the following
words:
…
Prospect for a transition to civilian rule and
democratization are slim… The repressive apparatus
of State Security Service… will be difficult for any
future civilian government to control… The country is
becoming increasingly ungovernable… Ethnic and
regional splits are deepening, a situation made worst
by an increase in the number of states from 19 to 30
and a doubling of the number of local governing
authorities; religious cleavages are more serious,
Muslim fundamentalism and evangelical Christian
militancy are on the rise and northern Muslim anxiety
over Southern (Christian) control of the economy is
intense…The will to keep Nigeria together is now very
weak (Kaplan: 2000, 39-40)
The Escalators: 1990s



In 1991, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida carved
Jos Local Government into North and South against
established norms of rational acceptance thus importing
new realities characterized by religious cleavages and
anxiety based on a North and South dichotomy.
By 1994 the first major riot in Jos took place under the
military administration of Col Mohammed Mana.
In the ensuing riot, 4 people lost their lives, 104 rioters
were apprehended by the police at the various scenes of
conflict and conflagration and a speedy preliminary
investigation, took them to the law courts for trial. Eightythree of those apprehended were of Hausa-Fulani
extraction, while the rest came from various other tribes.
The incidents of 2001

Under the civilian administration of Governor Joshua
Dariye Jos witnessed another round of crisis

The Nikki Tobi Commission of Inquiry puts the total
number of lives lost at 770 with about
N3,369,716,404.95 worth of properties destroyed.

With the persistent crisis which spread to other parts
of the state, a State of Emergency was eventually
imposed on Plateau State and the Governor together
with the House of Assembly sacked.
Mega Trends also Projected
In January 2005, the National Intelligence Council
convened a group of top US experts on Sub Saharan
Africa to discuss likely trends in the region over the
next 15 years. The group discussed several major
issues or “drivers” that will affect Africa including
globalization and its impact on political development
and economic growth, patterns of conflict, terrorism,
democratization, AIDS, evolving foreign influence and
religion. Participants saw the level of violence in
Africa as likely to change appreciably in the next 15
years. They noted that most conflicts will be internal.
Some of their views include:
Projected State Failure?

Positive developments in debt management

Nigeria was projected as a failed state capable of dragging large
parts of West Africa.

Most African countries will continue to pay lip service to democracy.

China will become a leading actor in Africa.

The Down Risk- show potential decline or outright collapse of Nigeria
as our leaders are locked in a bad marriage that all dislike but dare
not leave. There are possibilities that could disrupt the precarious
equilibrium in Abuja – The most important would be a Junior Officer
Coup that could destabilize the country.
Jos-Plateau State as Fault line


Jos-Plateau State within this context became the fault
line that divides civilization in the far North which is
more Muslim and the South which is more Christian.
This significantly affects the way the policies, actions or
inactions of the State government, which is responsible
for the daily discharge of public affairs are interpreted
mostly with religious colourations.
Prominent amongst these are the urban renewal policy
of the present administration, popularly referred to as
the “Greater Jos Master Plan”, and the ban on the use
of commercial motor cycles, which has variously been
misinterpreted as part of an underhand attempt to drive
out Muslims from Jos.
Unique
Referred to as
Nigeria’s “Home of
Peace and Tourism”,
the ethno-linguistically
diverse state is
majority Christian with
a sizeable Muslim
population. It is
situated in Nigeria’s
‘Middle Belt” at the
edge of the
predominantly Muslim
North and Christian
South.
2008



In 2008 another crisis erupted in Jos with
devastating effect on lives and property
The Commission of Inquiry headed by Judge
Bola Ajibola, an international jurist of repute
found that the actual number lives lost were
312, while 323 sustained various degree of
injury and property destroyed estimated at
N43,247,630,642.00
Since the submission of the Ajibola Report not
less than 200 people have been killed as a
result of all manner of attacks
Date
Local
District/Village
January
2010-2011
Government
Area
Remarks
17/01/2010
Jos South
Bukuru Market
Burning and
looting of shops
28/02/2010
“
Gyel Gyero Rd
07/03/2010
“
Dyemburuk (Dogo Hundreds killed,
Na Hawa)
mostly the aged,
women and
children
17 /03 /2010
“
Sabon Gida
Kanar
3 killed
11/04/2010
“
Kuru Jenta
Houses burnt
24/04/2010
“
Daku Hei- Turu
1 killed ,40 cows
rustled
18/10/2010
“
Dashe Vwang
60 cows rustled
17/10/2010
“
K/Vom
1 killed
15/11/2010
“
Kwata
3 killed , 2
injured
Date
Local
Government
District/Village
Area
Remarks
20/12/2010
Jos South
Gongohong
Vwang
3 killed, 2
injured,17 cows
rustled
24/12/2010
“
Farin Lamba
3 killed (Ione 5 yr)
24/12/2010
“
Chakarum Vwang
3 killed
30/12/2010
“
Chaha Vwang
2 killed
31/12/2011
“
Lodapan Turu
29 cows rustled
16//1/2011
“
Vwangkogot
1 Aged
23/1/2011
“
Daguruk Farin
/Lamba
6 killed (one 7
month , 10 yr old
30/1/2011
“
K/Vom
3 killed (woman
and child)
10/2/2011
“
Soil School
5 killed (5yr old),
36 cows rustled
Date
Local
Government
District / Village Remarks
Area
01/03/2011
Jos South
Dabwak Kuru
5 killed , 1
injured
06/02/2010
Ryom
Tashek Jol
Houses ablaze
10/02/2010
“
Kwi-
3 injured, 36
cows rustled
14/02/2010
“
Darin-Jol, TanJol
2 killed, 1 injured
15/02/2010
‘’
Ranjol Bachi
1 killed 1 injured
19/02/2010
‘’
Jol
1 woman killed
22/02/2010
‘’
Byei
1 injured Houses
set ablaze
26/02/2010
‘’
Jol
2 injured
Byei
17 killed, mostly
women and
children, 3
injured ,grains
burnt
17/03/2010
Date
Local
Government
District/ Village
Areas
Remarks
Aug-sept
Riyom
Fang
1 killed 4 injured
15/12/2011
‘’
Tashek Jol
1 killed
‘’
Gako-Rim
2 killed
20/12/2010
‘’
Lwa
1 killed,
crops/grains ,
houses destroyed
24/12/2010
‘’
Lwa
1 woman killed
Jan-Feb 2011
‘’
Shonong, Jol,
Wereng,kwi
Over 50 cows
rustled, crops and
farms destroyed
07/01/2011
‘’
Wereng Camp
1 killed, 2 injured
Kuru Station
14 killed 3 injured
mostly women and
children, STF
10/01/2011
Date
Local
Government
District/
Village Areas
Remarks
2010-2011
Jos North
Major locations Hundreds killed ,
Christmas Eve bomb
blast, travelers on
transit attacked,
students, missing
persons etc
2010-2011
Barkin Ladi
Some districts
like Fan,
Heipang
More than 16 attacks
with several women and
children killed
2010-2011
Bassa
Mostly irigwe
Over 8 attacks
Some critical Issues




In action by Security Forces in spite of civil authority
efforts at providing intelligence eg. Dogo Na Hawa
(Sim Card), Maza Killings, Phone calls to the then
GOC, Mohammed Aliyu saga etc
Rising Culture of Impunity as result of centralized
control of Security
Inadequacies in Justice Administration in which
demands for prosecution is often misinterpreted as
persecution of suspects
Usurpation of Legislative , Judicial and Executive
Powers clothed in seemingly value free demands for
State of Emergency
Issues






Instability in recruitment and deployment of security forces with
perception issues . Within three years not less than 5
Commissioners of Police have been posted to Plateau State
Issues of desert encroachment and porous borders, and
infiltration by non-Nigerians especially from Niger and Chad
State-State Relations as demonstrated by externalization of
attacks with neighboring states like Bauchi serving as staging
post while encouraging legislation calling for the dismemberment
of Plateau
Federal -State Relations, jurisdictional issues
State-Non State Actors
Media Management issues with emerging concepts such as
“ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” escalating conflict, from riots
to crisis and now bombings