Date Published: 03/20/10

The Unity Forum

(Peace, Unity and Progress Association)   

Suite 207 APC Plaza Nr. 12 Cape Town Str. Off IBB Way, Zone 4 Wuse, Abuja     Tel:  08033063826, 08033584659, 08033041663  

The unending Jos crisis and the failure of the State

At its meeting of Wednesday, March 17, 2010, the Unity Forum reviews with concern the unending ethno-religious crisis in Jos and other parts of Plateau State of Nigeria. The situation is inhuman, uncivilized, irreligious, condemnable and totally unacceptable. The way and manner governments and their agents have so far handled the crisis lives much to the desired. The glaring injustice, callousness and incompetence displayed at various moments by government and a section of the media during such crisis from the first in September 2001 to the most recent only helps in compounding the matters. Lives of Nigerians, whether of Christians or Muslims are sacred and must be protected. Comments from community and religious leaders from the divide, instead of being conciliatory, are inflammatory, divisive and at times irresponsible. Persons from other parts of the country and a section of the media, far away from the theatre, make ignorant and arrogant contribution on the crisis probably to aggravate the situation.  

The nation has experienced a wave of conflicts amongst people that hitherto lived together. Issues such as who is an indigene to a place or settler, a person’s state or local government area of origin are arising in every aspect of our lives. Why? Before now we witnessed similar incidences of intolerance in Ife-Modakeke in Osun state and the Tiv – Jukun - Kuteb in Taraba and Benue states, Ogoni – Andoni in Rivers State and the Omuleri - Aguleri in Anambra state among others. In all previous crises, lives and properties of Nigerians were lost in large number. The earlier ones did not attract the media and international attention of the recent one probably for a number of reasons;

A number of probe panels have in the past been set up with no public disclosure of their findings and no apparent consequence to the perpetrators of these dastardly acts. The citizens have lost confidence in the state and resort to taking laws into their hands. This, if unchecked portends a great danger to our nationhood and further complicates our delicate peace, polity and economic development. It is the inaction and the ineffectiveness of the state that opens the doors for the likes of the Libyan leader Mouamar Qaddafi to be making sensitive comments like dividing the country into two along religious lines.  

The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has given every Nigerian the right of abode in any part of the country. Besides, people have lived and intermingled positively for more than a century, long before colonialism and independence, doing businesses together, practicing different religions and engaging in other extensive social relationships including inter-marriages, peacefully and without hindrance. Even at the early days of our nationhood, the situation was tolerable since people of so-called different origin had either won elections, or were given political and leadership responsibilities far away from their homes of origin.  

We in the Unity Forum believe strongly that these issues can be resolved through an honest and well-conducted national dialogue, involving all stakeholders. The proposed dialogue, whatever form it will take, will attract experts in constitutional law, anthropology, demography, sociology, history, the clergy and other relevant fields to look into the following;

This will put to rest the issues of rights and privileges of a Nigerian and even foreigners wherever they may reside within the federation.  

Alhaji Musa Maigida Abdu (Signed)

Chairman