Buhari’s concern over Jos killings

LAST week, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, was quoted as saying  that President Muhammadu Buhari could not eat on the day of the gruesome attacks in  Jos, the Plateau State capital, which claimed 25 lives. The victims had reportedly come under attack by suspected militia in Rukuba, Jos, while returning from a religious assembly organised by Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi in Bauchi State. During a condolence visit to the cleric over the killing, the minister said that the president had been devastated by the incident, and had since directed that the perpetrators be fished out and prosecuted. The minister said: “He spoke with top military brass on the issue. He had just returned from a journey, and as matter of fact, the president could not even eat food.”

According to reports, the travellers ran into mourners, who were taking about 40 corpses from the Plateau Specialist Hospital, for a mass burial in their village, Miango. The mourners reportedly stopped the buses and were told by the travellers that they were coming from Bauchi and heading to Ikare, Ondo State. They then descended on the victims, killing 20 of them instantly, and setting some of their buses on fire. Another version of the incident claimed that the travellers were killed because arms were found in their possession. The police have since arrested a number of suspects over the dastardly incident. Since then, the state has witnessed further orgies of killings. On Monday, eight persons, including a police man and a neighbourhood watch official were killed in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

Worse still, on Tuesday, a yet undisclosed number of people were killed by suspected herders in a night raid on Yelwan Zangam in Jos North Local Government Area of the state. A resident of the area said vigilante members had reported recovering 37 bodies, with many of them burnt beyond recognition. Reacting to the incident, Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, expressed fury at the failure to avert the attack, which he said security reports indicated had been carefully planned by the attackers, who first took down the bridge linking the area before unleashing violence on the victims. Speaking through Dr. Makut Simon Macham, his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Lalong again vowed that criminals would be pursued, arrested and dealt with, no matter how long it took.

To say the least, the situation in Plateau State is distressing. It is saddening that life has become so cheap in the state that bloodshed is recorded almost on a weekly basis. Reacting to last week’s killings, the Presidency described it as a direct, brazen and wickedly motivated attack on members of a community exercising their rights to travel freely and to follow the faith of their choosing. It said: “With the evident preparedness of their attackers, it is clear this was a well-conceived and prearranged assault on a known target, location and religious persuasion of the travellers not an opportunist ambush.”

To be sure, last week’s tragic death of 25 travellers returning from a religious event speaks to the increasing denigration of human life in the country. Even if the travellers had arms in their possession as claimed in some reports, it was certainly not the within the remit of the killers to mete out justice to them. We condemn the killings and call on the government to ensure that the perpetrators get their just deserts. We equally condemn the killings which have since been carried out by suspected herders in the state following the incident, as well as the ceaseless acts of genocide they had reportedly perpetrated in the state before last week’s dastardly event. However, while the state and federal governments have reacted with indignation to the incident, we cannot fail to point out the disturbing undercurrents of the president’s reaction. The president’s reported loss of appetite over the Jos killings ordinarily ought to be a sign of statesmanship. But given his antecedents in the last five years, it cannot be taken at face value. At no time since 2015 has he been linked with such a state of mind over such killings.

It is curious that the president’s reaction seems to have been coloured by ethnic sentiments. To be sure, the lives of the victims matter, but we cannot help but recall the many instances of the president showing indifference to the killings of members of different ethnic groups across the country. It is patently dishonest to claim that he has been fair to all. Time and again, the Irigwe people as well as other ethnic groups have been mindlessly killed in Plateau State with the presidency offering no condolence or concern. In the wake of the New Year Day genocide in Benue State which claimed 72 people in Benue State, the president told the grieving people of Benue to accommodate their countrymen. The countrymen referred to were the alleged attackers. The president was panned for not issuing a statement on the bloodletting perpetrated by herdsmen in Igangan, Oyo State, and in many parts of the country.

The president must be fair and be seen to be fair to all Nigerians. That has not been the case since 2015. Every Nigerian life matters. It is very bad optics for any government to open up itself to charges of ethnic and/or religious bias.

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