Evacuation of UNIJOS students by state govs unfortunate, unnecessary —Plateau SSG

The Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Professor Danladi Atu, in this interview by ISAAC SHOBAYO, speaks on the recent security breaches in the state marked by killings after years of relative peace.

After six years of seeming respite, there were, of late, security breaches characterised by wanton killings, especially in Jos. What is responsible for this?

For the past six years, Plateau State had enjoyed relative peace and this peace is being deepened by the day on account of deliberate policies of the government that is determined to ensure that peace becomes our common asset. It is such a tremendous achievement that for six good years, there was no major crisis in Plateau State, especially in the state capital. This is possible because the government has taken deliberate measures to ensure that there is peace, unity and security for the people of Plateau State. But along the line, some stakeholders wondered why Governor [Simon] Lalong should take credit for this and they decided to induce artificial conflict. What happened recently in the state was a completely artificial conflict in the sense that it was induced by criminals and crisis merchants who want to derail the government and water down the achievements of the government and its investment in peace and security. Otherwise, how do you explain a situation where corpses were taken from the mortuary and displayed in the public, especially at the entrance of the Government House? It is desecration of corpses. When we see the rhetoric of some persons and their utterances as well as the instigation of youths to make the recent killings look like they were done by the government, we have every reason to suspect that some people are very unhappy with what His Excellency, Governor Lalong, is doing to ensure that Plateau is restored as the home of peace and tourism.

Some people have been desperately trying to promote the narrative that there is no peace in Plateau State. Because of this, one cannot be wrong to say that the present scenario was induced, pre-arranged, masterminded and implemented just to run down the government or achieve some political points. It raised an atmosphere of agony, anarchy and distraction, accusation and counter-accusation which was even placed above those killed and other victims. Plateau has witnessed crises before but the magnitude of this was surprising and suspicious.

As regards the attacks in Miango, Riyom and Yelwan Zangam, you can all see the traces of carefully planned events. A bridge was destroyed to prevent security forces from gaining access to the areas while the attacks lasted. Even with the attack on the commuters on Rukuba Road, you can see the fact that criminals were just out to cause havoc and destroy the peace of the state. How do you envisage that some people are travelling and you conclude they are Fulani terrorists? At least, if you arrest people you suspect, civility demands that the law should take its course. You are expected to hand them over to the security agencies. You can see a grand design to ignite religious crisis and label Plateau State as pushing for religious war. If you look at it critically, every aspect of it was premeditated: people were passing and you said you suspected them. I just can’t explain this.

The assumption in many quarters is that if the government had responded to the killings in Riyom, Barkin-Ladi, Bokkos and Bassa with seriousness, the Rukuba incident would not have happened?

Let me tell you the measures the government has taken and the people don’t know about. The epicenter of conflict has been Barkin Ladi but recently nothing has happened in the local government. The reason is that the governor initiated a peace process between the Fulani and the Berom chaired by the Gbong Gwom Jos. Now there is an agreement. The Berom sat down and identified the grey areas; the Fulani and others sat down and identified their grey areas. All of them sat down under the supervision of the governor and chairmanship of the Gbong Gwom. They all agreed, for instance, on no grazing at night, in shrines and residential areas. Where we have problems now are border communities around Ganawuri in Riyom up to the Bassa area. The crises in Plateau of recent have been in communities in the border areas. The governor has analysed this with his colleagues in the neighbouring states. We have been having dialogues with them.

Before the recent crises, the government, through the Peace Building Agency, had had 34 dialogue and engagement sessions with the Irigwe/Fulani alone. We have got to a point where they have drafted an agreement. I will mention some of the terms that the Irigwe gave. They demanded that their shrines and farmlands should not be touched while grazing. They are not saying the Fulani should not graze but they requested that their shrines and farmlands and other worship places should be avoided. On the other hand, the herders or the Fulani said, ‘You drove us away from our area which our forefathers bought from you’. They are saying that they should be allowed to return. They are saying that it is by so doing that they can join hands with the natives to chase away people that they don’t know, foreign elements that came between them. They recommended that they should be allowed to stay with them so that together they can fortify the area and know who is coming to graze. We need to work out modalities with other states with a view to streamlining grazing activities from other communities. If Kaduna, Bauchi and Plateau states can manage the border communities very well, these attacks will be stopped within a short time.

There are insinuations that when 25 travellerswere killed on Rukuba Road, the Federal Government deployed troops and helicopters in the state and nothing happened when over 35 people were killed at Yelwa-Zangam…

(Cuts in) Before the incident that happened in Gada-Biyu, there was a special operation because we realised that the criminals that were attacking the Irigwe people were not actually from Irigwe land. When we got that security report, the governor approved a 10-day operation by joint security forces. So, the presence of those helicopters was not meant for the incident you were talking about. That was why they were hovering between the hills of Bassa, Riyom, Barkin Ladi and Jos East. There were two major helicopters. The Air Force came because the police helicopter could not shoot; they could only hover around. They saw criminals on the hills but they could not shoot.

It is also said that the governor is not on the same page with the people of state in arresting this ugly trend.

This is a derailment of fact and the normal thing you hear from politicians who want to use crises for popularity. What do you mean by ‘the governor is not on the same page with the people’? Do you expect him to take the gun and personally chase criminals? He recently bought 50 patrol vehicles and 200 security bicycles, which were given to security agencies. He recruited 3,000 vigilantes who have been trained and are ready for deployment. He keyed into community policing and trained 592 constables. He enhanced ‘Operation Rainbow’ and established ‘Early Warning System’.

He also established the State Inter-Religious Council to foster dialogue and religious harmony. Despite these, politicians will tell you he has not done anything and is not on the same page with people. Who wrote the page? If you check, you will see that it is either the page of the opposition or the page of those who do not like the governor. Others want him to mount the platform and castigate the president or cease to be the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum.

These same people keep opening the so-called pages of hate and want to squeeze in the governor at all costs. You can see them recycling videos taken out of context to accuse the governor of selling Plateau and allowing land grabbing and other lies. He is the first governor in the history of Plateau State and one of the few, if not the only one, in Nigeria to sign anti-land grabbing law which he initiated as an executive bill. He has adopted ranching and sent a bill to the House of Assembly which will outlaw open grazing and see that cattle rearing is done in a modern way, as a business for all.

Governor Lalong will never play politics with the lives of the people. He loves the people and the people love him. They know he means well and stands for justice and fairness, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or politics. He is a man of peace and a national icon who is recognised within and outside the country.

How did you feel when states were evacuating their students from the University of Jos and what are you doing to guarantee the security of the students?

The evacuation of students was a very unfortunate one and, of course, we were saddened by the attacks and killing of some students outside the campus. We condole with their families and the university. However, we need to put the whole thing in context. The university itself was never attacked or threatened. The students affected were those who were outside the campus or caught up in the reprisal attacks that happened in the vicinity where some students resided off-campus. The governor had directed that security be beefed up around the university and even gave them four patrol vehicles.

So, when the states were evacuating their students, he was very saddened because it was based on panic and false rumour being circulated on social media. He called many of his colleagues and expressed his displeasure. Some have apologised to him. Others like the Kebbi State governor refused to take their students but rather sent them money to buy food which was their challenge. The question the governor has asked is, ‘should Plateau also evacuate its students from Kaduna, Borno, Zamfara, Imo, Katsina, etc?’ This is not the option. Remember, Plateau students have been targeted, kidnapped and even publicly executed by insurgents in Borno State. Yet, the government did not evacuate its students from such places.

In the meantime, we have taken measures to deal with anyone who threatens our students. Those who killed the students and their accomplices have been arrested. We are working with the university to enhance security around the university and have also engaged the host community to warn them that if they allow any student to be attacked again, they will be held responsible and dealt with. They have also agreed to protect the university and the students.

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