Plateau state governor has warned residents of Jos to remain indoors as it has given an order to security personnel to shoot at sight any individual or group seen on the streets.
This is in addition to 24-hour curfew imposed in four troubled spots within the metropolis following the assessment of security situation by Governor Jonah Jang yesterday morning.
This happened just as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state alleged the arrest of over 1,000 mercenaries from Bauchi in Jos, while the government said another 500 people with assorted weapons are now in police custody.
Trouble started on Friday following the outcome of last Thursday’s local government election which the opposition alleged was being rigged in Jos North local government area in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
No fewer than 50 people have been feared dead while property worth billions of naira destroyed so far.
Tension continued to mount in virtually all parts of the metropolis confirming further fear of rising death toll as a result of ineffectiveness of the 12 hour curfew earlier imposed.
The property so far lost is estimated at billions of Naira even as the government and security agencies could not readily quantify the losses both in lives and property.
It was observed in parts of the metropolis that youths took over the security checks around their vicinities in the absence of police and military patrols due to shortage of manpower as confirmed by Bala Kassim, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO).
Gunshots and heavy smoke were observed from some distances in parts of the metropolis while several vehicles displayed for sale along Gada Biu were set ablaze by the rampaging warlords.
As at the time of this report, the governor has assured the people that “Government is on top of the situation”.
Series of security meetings were ongoing while Mr. James Mannok, director of press affairs, said areas like Nassarawa, Congo Russia, Unijos, Bauchi road and Rikkos are to observe the 24 hour curfew.
The chairman of CAN in the state, Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, who alleged at a press conference that 1,000 mercenaries from Bauchi were arrested in Jos, insisted that the crisis was religious not political.
Meanwhile, the Action Congress (AC) and presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the April 14, 2007 elections, Prof. Pat Utomi, have in separate statements, condemned the Plateau mayhem, calling for the cancellation of the council poll.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, AC also condemned the government’s gross insensitivity in going ahead to release the results of the elections, especially that of the Jos North that precipitated the crisis, even as the smoke was yet to clear from the ruins of the violence.
“This action of the state government is incredibly provocative, and we condemn it in unequivocal terms. It shows that the action that triggered the violence was pre-meditated by the state government.
“The strategy of the PDP in precipitating the violence is simple: Let us rig the elections, the people will protest, we will mowed them down and arrest as many as we like through the help of the security forces and the results of the rigged elections will still stand,’’ it said.
AC also slammed the hypocrisy of those who are now very quick to condemn the violence, which could have been avoided if the same people had been courageous enough to join us in warning against actions that could cause the kind of violence that rocked Jos on Friday.
“After the PDP-run state government realised that the AC was winning the first council elections held in March, it quickly cancelled the poll. We warned than that such action was capable of causing a breach of the peace, but no one listened.
“All those who are now shedding crocodile tears and acting as chief mourners conveniently kept quiet then, because it was not politically expedient for them to speak out against the injustice, inequity and intolerance perpetrated by the state government. Little did they realise that when the chips are down, it might not even be the AC and its supporters that would be at the receiving end of the PDP-instigated violence – for that is what rigging amounts to,’’ the party said.
It also criticised the Yar’Adua administration for lacking the foresight to forestall the unfortunate violence that claimed the lives of innocent people, including students.
“We have read that President Yar’Adua is sad about the violence. We feel he should rather be sad at his inability to act pro-actively to prevent the crisis. After all, he has the benefit of security reports from the security agencies. Didn’t they warn him of the fire the PDP was playing with by going ahead to rig the council polls in the state? Didn’t they tell him that state governor Jonah Jang did not even allow the opposition to campaign in Shendam local government among others?’’ the party queried.
AC said the deployment of troops and the imposition of curfew were mere palliatives that can only stop the violence for a moment, saying the lasting solution is for the government to cancel the elections and organise a fresh one under an atmosphere that will foster a free and fair elections.
In his reaction, Utomi said:”It is with great shock that I have learnt of yet another tragic turn into violent in response to perception of what may or not may be appropriate outcomes from political matters with this new wave of arson and murder in Plateau State.”
“Whatever at all may be the reasons, the taking of human lives is unacceptable and condemnable just as is the deliberate destruction of property.”
“As we have said again and again, our nation cannot make progress until the dignity of the human person and the inestimable value of every soul is placed above any material consideration or power consideration.”
“Part of the crisis of development of our country is this failure of culture in which the dignity of man is inalienable and uncontestable.”
“I am calling on all authorities at all levels to visit with a maximum show of disagreement for such conduct, all who may be implicated in any shape or form in plotting and executing the loss of the lives of Nigerians.”
“If routinely, we make nothing of the value of human life over petty ethnic and political squabbles in the desire for power which we use for personal aggrandizement, we cannot stay consistent with the vision of a country that will deploy every resource available to it to protect a Nigerian life wherever on the planet.
“In the same vein, we can not in good conscience talk about the poverty devastating our land and how to alleviate it, when for any small issue at every whim we destroy what took so much to build. It means people always have to begin again and again; we would never be able to escape poverty in that vicious cycle.”
“I urge the security agencies and political leadership of the country to be particularly sensitive to intelligence reports and speculations through the year, especially captured in Robert Kaplan’s treatise and book; The Coming Anarchy, which actually saw Jos as a flashpoint of the descent, of even the global arena, into anarchy.”
“I encourage all authorities concerned to pay particular attention to creating institutional mechanisms to ensuring that conflict resolution is built into the political fiber of Plateau State,” he added.
and in addition, agencies like INEC should show greater maturity and practicality when operating places like Plateau State.”