Posted by 9jabook.com on January 28, 2010 at 6:44pm
Oyo evacuates 650 indigenes
From Isa Abdulsalami (Jos), Oghogho Obayuwana, Emeka Anuforo (Abuja), Iyabo Lawal (ibadan) and Alex Olise (Lagos)
RELIGIOUS fundamentalists allegedly trained in Taliban were yesterday named as the executioners of the recent mayhem in Jos, Plateau State.
Prior to the violence, the state chapter of the Advisory Board of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), claimed that security agencies were inundated with reports that some Islamic sect had trained their members in Sudan to carrying out a Jihad and ethnic cleansing in Jos.
The group claimed that over 600 armless Christians were killed by the fanatics in the January 17 crisis. But the state police command had earlier put the death toll at 323.
At a press conference yesterday, the Plateau State Chairman of PFN, Dr. Sam Alaha, who made the allegations, added that over 1,000 Christians were displaced in the crisis.
According to Alaha, four Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) buildings in Rikkos, destroyed in the 2008 crisis but rebuilt were again destroyed in the latest crisis. He listed the affected churches as ECWA Jos Jarawa; ECWA Mai Adiko; Redeemed Christian Church of God, Bukuru; two Assemblies of God Church Bukuru; Church of God Mission, Bukuru and many others.
He said this was apart from business premises, homes, schools and others, which were also damaged, adding that the pastor's house of ECWA Church in Mai Adiko was burnt.
Alaha said: "A similar invasion took place at the ECWA Church Nassarawa (Gwong) by military personnel. The pastor's office, house and bedroom were forcefully entered, file cabinet were ransacked and soft drinks bought for guests who were attending a leadership seminar in the church were consumed by the invading military operatives and other things looted.
"Churches, houses and cars belonging to about 10 PFN pastors in Bukuru were burnt and damaged. Many reports of carnage, atrocities and destructions are still coming in. We sympathise with all those who have lost their loved ones and valuable property. May God give you all the grace to bear these irreplaceable losses."
Alaha stated that the Jos crisis was a well- planned, long-timed and systemised approached Jihad. He said in 2009 during the Boko Haram crisis in Borno State, the Chief Imam of Bauchi Sheikh Mohammed Bala Ahmed, disclosed to the press that the Boko Haram fighters were a group of 3,800 Nigerians, trained as fighters in Sudan, with a mission to invade Jos.
The cleric said since the Jos fight had waned, the Talibans went under to train others in the bush in Bauchi and other places.
"They therefore turned this violent spirit on the city during the last Bauchi Boko Haram crisis. These trained fighters are the reason why the Jos crisis cannot end. These Taliban-trained fighters brought into our dear city of peace insist on trying out their acquired killing skills. Until this root is traced and totally excised, we see our city still smoking in their hands even without provocation. There is no denying the fact that some innocent Muslims were also affected by the Talibans' modus operandi but this could have been avoided if the Sunday morning attack did not happen."
He claimed that a systematic programme of ethnic cleansing was being undertaken by the Hausa/Fulani in Jos, adding that the present happenings proved to them that there was a motive to ethnically cleanse Jos by the Hausa/Fulani.
Alaha said that since the 2001 crisis, when Angwan Rogo was initially cleansed of all Christians, it had been followed by the same cleansing of all ethnic groups that are not Hausa/Fulani and the acquisition of cheap abandoned property in their dominated areas, adding that Muslims from other tribes other than the Hausa/Fulani extraction were also targets.
As a way forward, he suggested that government should implement findings and recommendations of previous panels and commissions while the state government should form an anti-religious riot vigilance group to work as a first response body to any uprising before the police arrive.
He stated that the issue of security agents taking sides with people of their faith should be checked, asking, "can anyone imagine what happens to Nigeria if all security agents sent to quell religious riots decide to pitch tent with people of their own faith? This issue must be carefully looked into and measures taken to forestall a recurrence."
Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff Lt- Gen. Abdurahman Dambazau, has denied that soldiers were partisan in quelling the Jos crisis.
In a reaction yesterday in Lagos, the Army boss, described the claim by some section of Jos community, that soldiers assisted Muslims to wreck havoc on Christian residents as unture.
"Now, the Chief of Staff (Operation) in Jos is a Christian by religion and a Yoruba by tribe, the Garrison Commander, who is responsible for deploying troops during violence is also a Christian and Yoruba by tribe. How do you think such persons will direct his men to kill his Christian brothers and sisters," he said.
At the Oyo State Governor's Office, Ibadan, it was a pathetic site yesterday as victims of Jos crisis, including indigenes, youth corps members and some non-indigenes relieved their experiences during the violence.
The returnees, who were among the 650 persons so far evacuated by the state government in the wake of the bloody clash, fought back tears as they narrated their experiences to reporters with many vowing not to return to the troubled city again.
Apart from Oyo State indigenes, victims from neighbouring states of Edo, Ogun and Ondo were also among those evacuated by the state government and were received by Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala.
Chairman of the Yoruba Community in Jos, Alhaji Asimiyu Ajani, who was the Director of Blessing Tailor in Jos, recalled how he lost his multi million naira fashion centre and one of his apprentices to the crisis.
Ajani, who said he spent about 39 years in Jos, expressed regrets that what started as a mild misunderstanding between a native and a settler, could degenerate into a major crisis resulting in the loss of innocent lives and wanton destruction of property, especially of non-indigenes.
He said: "The crisis started Tuesday last week and the next day, we were woken from sleep and forced to abandon our property for the safety and since then, we had been taking shelter in different places like the police barracks, churches and mosques and left with only the clothes we have on."
Sixty-nine-year-old Moses Adegboyega said what he laboured for in the last 29 years were lost to the crisis.
Some of the corps members who took turns to speak with The Guardian said they might not return to the troubled state again.
One of the corps members, who identified herself as Mutiat Akintunde, said she never knew she would come out alive of Jos.
Alao-Akala assured the victims of government's readiness to assist them, saying arrangements had been put in place to ensure that they learn a vocation after which the government would give them start -up funds.
Addressing a press conference in Jos, Mr. Joseph Sangosanya, who was supported by a human right activist, Dr. Tor Lorapuu, said that the coalition supported the ban of commercial motorcycles in the Bukuru/Jos Metropolis and suggested that there should be a joint task force and not just the military alone.
Sangosanya advised government to make available fuel as it has banned the open sale of petrol in Jerry cans.
He advised the Inspector-General of Police and the Federal Government to transfer the culprits that were apprehended during the November 2008 and January 2010 crisis back to Jos for prosecution.
An international donor agency, Oxfam GB said yesterday that the number of sufferers of the effects of Jos crisis had increased.
In its statement yesterday, Lesley Agams, the group's country director, said Oxfam "wishes to draw attention to the food and social security of the poor and vulnerable, and amongst them women and children, with whom we work to overcome poverty and suffering in Nigeria.
Oxfam further said: "The reports from our partners and staff say the situation in Jos and environs have impacted severely on the poor and vulnerable as many have lost their small holdings and are now incapacitated by their poverty in being able to recover quickly and sufficiently from the drastic disruption of their normal daily routine and livelihoods systems."
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