Thirteen people were killed in Wereng village, Riyom local government area near Jos, by men wearing military uniforms in the early hours of Tuesday, according to officers of the Plateau State Police Command.
PHOTO:Cross section of Igbo community in plateau at a news conference on Jos crisis in Jos on Tuesday photo: NAN Burnt Trailers in Metropolis
The police also confirmed that attacks were also reported in Fagawang where two persons were killed, and Nyarwai, both in the Barkin Ladi local government area, where three persons were killed.
According to a police statement issued yesterday, 11 houses were burnt during the attack in Nyarwai, and three in Fagawang villages, while a church was burnt down in Ding village. A police source who preferred to remain anonymous confirmed that the attackers used weapons including guns, machetes, daggers, bows and arrows to attack their victims who were reportedly taken unawares.
Cold blood murder
According to the police source, the dead, who were slaughtered and left lying in their own blood, had several knife cuts on their bodies. The corpses still lay out in the open in the villages Tuesday morning as government officials were awaited. An official statement by Obinna Simon for the state police commissioner, Abdurrahman Akano, said no arrests had been made, but urged “all those concerned to refuse burial until we perform the autopsy.”
He said that the autopsies would help authorities ascertain the source and types of the weapons used. This, he said, would aid investigations and help ascertain whether the attackers were real military officers.
A city shuts down
Meanwhile, business activities were non-existent in the city as banks and other businesses remained closed throughout Tuesday. With freezing temperatures around 16°C, the streets have remained empty, with only a few vehicles venturing along specific routes. The city’s business nerve centre, popularly known as Terminus, has become a ghost of itself. Ahmadu Bello Way, Rwang Pam, Church, and Langtang Streets, and Old Bukuru Road, routes that experience heavy traffic daily, are deserted.
Powerless Special Task Force?
The Ndigbo, the umbrella body of the Igbo community in Jos, said that it has lost confidence in the Special Task Force headed by Hassan Umaru, a brigadier-general.
A statement by the group’s president-general, Richard Wayas, and its secretary, Serbinus Anyanwu, said that the Ndigbo condemned the cycle of crises, killings, and the Christmas Eve bombings and called on the federal and state governments to initiate urgent measures to end the violence.
“At the last count, we have well over 40 corpses of our people deposited both at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jankwano, and Jos University Teaching Hospital mortuaries, with several hospitalised,” the statement read.
“It is also regrettable that a luxury bus (EKWOS) carrying mostly Igbo passengers was attacked and burnt down by the same Hausa-Fulani youth along Bauchi Road, Jos.”
Simon Mwadkon, chairman of Riyom local government, described the incident as “very unfortunate,” saying that injured persons had been taken to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). He said that the attackers invaded the villages between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on Tuesday, setting houses ablaze and killing the fleeing owners of the houses. Among the victims, he said, were children and nursing mothers.
The chairman alleged that security personnel were stationed “just 200 metres to where the attacks were carried out but they did nothing to stop it. In fact, a traditional ruler and the councillor, representing the area, Mr. Victor Davou, rushed to the STF soldiers just by but they bluntly refused to go to the scene after claiming that they were not given such an order,” Mr. Mwadkon said.
Mr. Mwadkon, however, promised that the council would do everything possible to assist victims of the raid, and called on the state and federal government to rise to the challenge and “do something drastic about the incessant crises on the Plateau.”
Averting another crisis
The Bauchi State Police Command said it has taken steps to prevent a spillover of the Jos crisis into the state. The command’s public relations officer, Mohammed Barau, an assistant superintendent of police, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi yesterday that security was being beefed up in all parts of the state, especially in towns close to the state’s border with Plateau.
“The police have taken proactive measures to prevent a spillover of the Jos crisis into the state. We are ready to take action to forestall any breach of law and order,” he said.
He added that there was now a better understanding between muslims and christians in the state.
The nation’s inspector-general of police, Hafiz Ringim, urged residents of Jos to resolve their issues without resorting to violence. Mr. Ringim made the plea in a statement issued in Abuja by the force’s public relations officer, Olusola Amore.
“The crisis in Jos should not be seen as a police/security problem but a community/political problem which all peace-loving people should strive to resolve without resorting to rancour,” he said.
“Nigerians should learn to live together in peace in spite of differences in tribe, language and religion,” he added.
The inspector general assured the people of the state and its environs of 24-hour patrols to forestall the breakdown of law and order in Jos. He said the police and other security agencies have been doing their best to contain the crisis and that 15,000 police officers and other security personnel had been deployed to Jos to restore peace since the crisis began.
