Turbulent Plateau, Lingering Insecurity, ‘Stateless’ Citizens And The Prophets Of Doom -By Abdu Abdullahi

Recently, Plateau state was on the horrific news again: brutal killings of innocent people! How did the state find itself in this predicament of insecurity for more than two decades?

The root of the Plateau recurring violence could be traced to the ethnic opium orchestrated and consumed by the prophets of doom long time ago, only coinciding with the prevailing insecurity in parts of the country. Defiantly, they conceived and nurtured the despicable idea of propagating and entrenching new dichotomous order of ‘indigenous people’ and the ‘settlers.’ Accordingly, these dangerous mischief makers instilled and promoted unprecedented animosity, poisoning the minds of the ignorant ‘indigenous people’ against the ‘settlers’ as if the latter were foreigners.

In the context of their ‘indigenous philosophy,’ they believed that Plateau would prosper only without settlers instead of freeing themselves from the shackles of underdevelopment. By implications of their inactions, settlers are stateless citizens. They will have no state of their origin but are Nigerians. Therefore, those who practice the religion of ethnicity in Nigeria’s context are enemies of progress regardless of their positions.

It is very sad that our democracy condones derogatory statements that even leaders were heard inciting and advocating for violence in Plateau deploying state machinery at the onset of the current democracy. Each time prominent Nigerians condemn the Plateau killings, calling for peace to reign, they often forget that they could not attack those political elites who made inflammatory utterances that led to the collapse of peace.

What those tribal warriors could not achieve in terms of unleashing havoc under military dispensation succeeded in the name of democracy, thereby distorting the very essence of democracy as all inclusive in practical terms. The same democracy that extolls the virtues of freedom of association as well as equality is the same system that was manipulated to create another version of democracy laden with ethnic bigotry as its cardinal principle.

During the military despotism, the fear of the gun did not allow them to go the extreme way of ethnicity. If the military regime is often accused of being dictatorial, it really preserved peace in Plateau state. The no nonsense khaki boys were united by a national interest and therefore could not be influenced by myopic tendencies to let the fall of peace and tranquility.

In September 2001, little did we know that the architects of the destructions on the Plateau would rear their ugly heads with a high level of ethnic force. Eventually, the time bomb of ethnic antagonism was let loose and finally exploded, leaving behind unprecedented casualties! When they stormed with all their collective strength in Jos town as their first place of experiment, before we knew it, the charming character of the Tin City was brutalized and dislocated beyond repairs even now. At the end of the piloting episode of the tragic show, the destructive game of the’ indigenous people and settlers’ consumed hundreds of lives, billions of naira property. Eventually, Jos became a ghost town and it is still so because the echoes of that ‘ tribal war’ are still vibrant.

It will not be exaggerating if we declare that Plateau is on the verge of collapse. It lacks unity and purposeful co-existence. The evidence for this is that settlements are now based on tribal dominance of the indigenous people and the settlers. But before now, there were mixed settlements comprising people of different ethnic backgrounds living peacefully within the same compound. Plateau used to be the most peaceful state in Nigeria and beyond. It served as an attractive centre for tourism. Unfortunately, they have completely erased this beautiful feature of the state. Are they losers or winners? History has recorded all their misdeeds and will be narrated to the coming generations.

No matter the claim of dividends of democracy attained, we cannot bring back the thousands souls that have perished. We cannot bring back the trillions of naira properties destroyed. For more than 20 years, we have failed to replace the prevalent insecurity with the desired security. When shall we have the last killings and restore the confidence that existed amongst the inhabitants of the state in the past. Even when Lawan Gwadabe and some patriotic Nigerians formed a reconstruction team named ‘ Let’s make Jos great again’, they realized the enormity of the task and abandoned it completely afterwards.

For now, Plateau state needs new citizens of proven integrity and not tribal lords. Plateau needs heroes of democracy and not villains of democracy. Plateau needs apostles of change and not merchants of death. Plateau needs all people’s oriented social system and not ethnicity defined system. Plateau must be reconstructed by people of modern thoughts and practices, people of outstanding conscience. Plateau must be reunited without excluding any ethnic group perceived as settlers. The songs of sorrow are still echoing, reminding us about the evils that men can perpetuate. The fatality of the wound is still unhealed and deteriorating. Should we allow recurrent insecurity to be the major character of Plateau?

More than two decades into democracy , blood shedding has been destroying and redefining Plateau as unsafe. Those who started the tribal ‘war’ are helplessly watching as they cannot end it. They have deliberately sacked peace for the sake of indigenous people. It is a great pity and shock for the nation. It is a huge joke that costs Plateau sustainable development.

Indeed, these are good lessons for the brilliant students of history and lovers of Plateau in particular.

Abdu Abdullahi
aaringim68@gmail.com
07036207998