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From Jude Dangwam, Jos
The survivors of the unabated attacks and killings across Bassa, Riyom, Barkin-Ladi, Jos-South, Bokos and Mangu local government areas of Plateau State remain helpless, running from one end to the other without any assurance of safety from the attackers who are hell-bent on causing pain and anguish for innocent locals.
These communities continue to suffer from the serial attacks, making them sleep with one eye open, even as they have expressed a loss in confidence in the security apparatus in the state, especially men of the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) saddled with the responsibility of maintaining peace in Plateau for over a decade now.
However, in what seemed reprieve for the survivors, who are now wanderers, moving from one community to the other looking for food and clothing in some towns and in Jos, the state capital, the Plateau State Police Command has deployed more 100 Mobile Police Force officers across some troubled areas in the state. Some victims consider the recent steps as a welcome development.
Secretary to the Government of Plateau State (SGS) Samuel Nanchang Jatau, was present at the command headquarters to see the successful deployment.
He said: “The deployment of these units is part of the government’s efforts to enhance security and maintain law and order in the state.”
Director, Cabinet and Special Services, office of the SGS, Mr. Nanman Jonah Kparbong, who was also present, highlighted government’s commitment to ensuring the safety and security of citizens, and the provision of resources to support law enforcement agencies in the execution of their duties.
The Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Bartholomew Onyeka, while performing the deployment, said he was deploying Mobile Police to stop the destruction of lives and properties across communities.
“I am now deploying Mobile Police Force (MPF) personnel across troubled local government areas in the state. This decision became necessary in response to several killings in the state, as I seek to bring the perpetrators to justice and restore peace on the Plateau,” he explained.
The CP cautioned all personnel deployed to be very vigilant while carrying out their constitutional duties and warned that any officer found engaging in any illegal act would be severely punished in accordance with the disciplinary procedure in the Police Act and Regulations.
The president of Global-Society for Middle-Belt Heritage, Mr. Jerry Tongle Datim, had earlier called for the replacement of personnel of the Special Task Force, codenamed Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), alongside the Commander/GOC, 3rd Armoured Division, in the state.
He also expressed concerns on the seeming weakness of the police that required some sort of support by government to function, especially in addressing the recurrent attacks and killings, which he believed they could handle much better than the military.
“I did all the burials from one place to the other. At some point, we could not go into the bushes without the police. So, I was given six police vehicles, well armed, but, at a point, they attacked us at the burial ground. I had to make a call and two aircraft were sent from the defense headquarters to guard us.
“All the 43 villages that I went to, I counted them. I have the list of every village with the number and names of people that were killed. They are 276. This is not a government figure, and this is apart from Riyom, Barkin-Ladi figure.
“We’re not safe at all. They gave us some Mobile Police, but could you believe that there was no vehicle to convey them!? For the past one year, Lalong has not held a security council meeting and the police are incapacitated in terms of mobility and there is nothing like farming in these 42 villages as I am talking to you now,” he lamented.
Secretary of the Global Society for Middle-Belt Heritage Mr. Ringsum Joshua John, accused soldiers deployed by STF of causing more harm than good to their women and girls, but was not specific to the various actions of the military men.
He said: “You will bear me witness that the operation of STF has taken too long. We don’t want to ask the meaning of Operation Safe Haven, while there is no haven and no safety. As they prolonged their stay, we discovered that they prefered to build hospitals. They prefered to build schools for the locals, and they prefered to engage our youths in football competitions, rather than facing the business of security in Plateau State.
“So, you will also agree with me that, if you look at them, they’re living a flashy life. They’re not even looking as if they’re in war front on the Plateau. So, I think they have come for business of their stomach, not the business to save what is happening.
“From 2010 to date, STF has been here on the Plateau. Since the time of Sale Maina, when he double as the GOC and STF commander, we have not gotten any peace. So, just to say a little, because there is more social damage that STF troops have been causing to our young girls and women, but when they come to the issue of protection, they take sides in the name of protecting the minority.
“So, we became the majority to be hunted and the minorities became our attackers and were protected. We will not take that and that is why we are saying they should go immediately, and we want this to go even to the defence headquarters to know that we have not seen any operation like a safer haven here on the Plateau.”
Alhaji Garba Abdullahi Muhammed, who is the chairman of Gan-Allah Fulani Association, an umbrella body of all Fulani professionals, including those breeding cattle, expressed his dismay about the efforts of security agencies whom he alleged to have not been living up to expectations.
He said: “You know, criminal acts are criminal acts and they don’t know tribe or religion. If they say it is Fulani that does this or that and it is proven by security agencies, then it is an act of criminality and should be handled as such because there are such elements cutting across ethic and religious divides.
“Any slightest happening they will say it is Fulani, and the implication is that if any innocent Fulani is sighted grazing, automatically, the notion is let’s kill this man because he is Fulani, the passive enemy. And anytime an innocent person is killed, he has relatives and they might react somewhere.
“I am not always happy with the narratives about Fulani and I want to believe that what is happening is not carried out by Fulani people. If a drug addict wakes up and causes any problem then they say it is Fulani.
“The Fulani has become a milking cow, he is like a bank for especially security agencies. Whenever one is broke, they will say this person is a kidnapper; since he has cattle, he is a kidnapper. He is picked and will not be charged to court but you will hear N2 million or N5 million demanded and they will go and sell their cows and pay. So, I don’t agree with what is being said of Fulani.
“If they are ready to rise up and deal with criminality, they would do it. Are the security agents living up to expectations? They are living in their comfort zone and waiting for things to happen before they start apportioning blames and start arresting people unnecessarily without proving that this man is innocent just because the person has nobody to defend him, and you see innocent ones are convicted.
“There is an organized syndicate put together between the cattle rustlers from the Fulani and cattle rustlers from the Berom. I am a living witness.
“They met and formed a syndicate. The Fulani syndicate will rustle Fulani cattle and give their counterpart of Berom extraction. The receivers will take them into their own area and they are gone because they know that Fulani will not go into such areas. And you know Beroms also rear cattle, so the same thing is applicable. The Berom syndicate will rustle their Berom cattle and will come and give to their Fulani counterparts to take it into the Fulanis no-go areas, where Berom will not be able to enter.
“So, with this, will you say it is Fulani or Berom? They are pure criminals. Until when we call a spade a spade, we will continue to be victimizing innocent people and you continue to see uprising from here and there. What is happening, I am not happy as a Fulani man. I am not happy as a leader of Fulani because my people are vulnerable. Whenever trouble comes, you can’t carry your cow and put in your pocket or deposit them in the bank.
“The security agents are doing what they’re doing now but they’re not living up to expectations. In a serious setup, are we saying that we don’t have intelligence?
“In every security agency, there is intelligence unit. In the police, there is intelligence, we have the DSS, even in Civil Defence we have intelligence. What is the importance of intelligence? They’re to go and dig information on potential crisis but they won’t go, they will relax in the comfort of their offices, waiting for calls that they have started fighting here or there.
“They will not come instantly until people have been killed and houses burnt before they come and look for soft targets and arrest them.” .
Against the backdrop of the accusations against the military, the General Officer Commanding, 3 Division, Nigerian Army, and commander of OPSH, Major General Abdulsalami Bagudu Ibrahim, held a meeting with stakeholders from Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas of Plateau State, at the headquarters of the OPSH in Jos, in a bid to find lasting solution to the resurgence of hostilities in some communities in the state. He appealed for sincerity of purpose among community leaders in addressing the problems.
He said the root cause of the crises on the Plateau, which have lasted for “over 20 years must be identified and addressed holistically.”
He decried the rate at which lives are being wasted over trivial issues that could have been resolved through dialogue. He advocated for a strict legislation that would keep the people in check for good behaviour, asking: “How long shall we continue killing ourselves for no reason?”
Ibrahim further cautioned citizens against making unguarded statements about security agents who are working tirelessly to save the situations and ensure normalcy is restored in the affected communities.
Meanwhile, Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang has reiterated his commitment to approaching the bad security situation of the state in a different way.
Having held his first security council meeting upon resumption, where he was briefed of the absence of a security meeting by the outgoing administration in the last one year despite several attacks across communities before the general election up to handover on May 29, 2023. Mutfwang appointed his Special Adviser on Security, Brigadier General Gakji Goshwe Shipi (retd.), and citizens have high expectations of the appointee.
The governor, while speaking to the AIG, Zone 4, Makurdi, Ros-Amson Musa Haladu, who was in his office, disclosed that foreign mercenaries were brought into the state: “Some of the attacks we have seen in recent times are certainly not from the people that live within the borders of Plateau.
“And the question we keep asking is, who called them into Plateau? Who sponsored them into Plateau? Who gave them direction into Plateau? This is what we are appealing to security agencies to help us because we can’t continue to fight unknown gunmen when actually those are seen with the physical eyes.
“Therefore we want to appeal to the security agencies led by the police to intensify their intelligence network in fishing out these marchants of crisis so that we can actually make them to face the full wrath of the law.”
