Family of 8 wiped out in midnight attack near Jos, Plateau State

On 4 September, a family of eight was wiped out by unknown assailants who attacked a village in Heipang District of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State.

Local sources said the heavily armed attackers invaded Tatu village at midnight, and struck at the residence of Mr. Chollom Nangup Gyang. They killed him, his wife and six children, including a four-month-old baby.

There is no certainty as to who carried out the attack. However, the Chairman of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Mr. Emmanuel Loman, who visited the village hours after the attack, said he suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen from a neighbouring village. He said: “We are suspecting the Fulanis in this attack because this is their route. And, apart from that, the Fulanis that live in nearby Mahanger village are heavily armed”.

Loman lamented that “This kind of attack, aimed at an entire family, is the second in less than a month in my local government. What is going on is beyond words”.

The Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Mr Yiljap Abraham, expressed the state government’s regrets over the incident and called on the people to be more vigilant to avoid a recurrence. Sadly admitting that government security agencies could not offer full protection to citizens, the Commissioner told newsmen that: “Government is calling on community and religious leaders and politicians to enlighten their people to help themselves. Arrangements should be made to protect the people; let people take measures to safeguard lives and property in every community”.

The Commissioner, however, urged ethnic, community and religious leaders to intensify efforts towards resolving differences through dialogue rather than violence.

The military Special Task Force (STF) maintaining security in Plateau was nowhere around the village that was attacked. Explaining the absence, the spokesman of the Force, army Captain Charles Ekeocha, said the STF withdrew its men after communities in the area had accused soldiers of complicity in attacks and specifically demanded their withdrawal.

Security in the area is now left to the police and the Plateau-owned security outfit, Operation Rainbow. With the Nigerian state failing in its responsibility to protect, communities in the area will have to do more for themselves.

Violent clashes in Jos: 20 feared killed in Christian-Muslim fights

On 29 August, at least 20 people were killed and more than 50 vehicles burnt during clashes between Christian and Muslim youths, amidst celebration of the Muslim Eid-el Fitr in Jos, capital of Plateau State. Residents said some of the deaths occurred after military forces had been deployed to disengage the fighting youths.

By various accounts, the fight started after a group of Muslims, who had gathered at a prayer ground in the Rukuba area of the city, to end the Muslim month of Ramadan, were confronted by youths from the predominantly Christian neighbourhoods. The Muslims were said to be members of a radical sect, the Jama’atul Izalatul Bid’ah Wa Ikamatus Sunnah (often refered to as Izala or JIBWIS for short) who were observing the Eid el-Fitr a day ahead of most other Muslims in the country.

It is not clear how the confrontation started. Several sources said the Muslims had not used that prayer ground since the Christian-Muslim fights of December 2010, and that their attempt to resume prayers there unilaterally, without seeking approval and working out necessary modalities for maintaining peace, was considered an act of provocation by the predominantly Christian residents. A resident said when some Muslims went to clear the bushes at the prayer ground three days earlier, in preparation for the Eid prayer, they were told by residents not to proceed with their plan.

One source however said the Christian youths also took the action to avenge the disruption of their own Christmas Day celebrations last year, by deadly bomb attacks which killed over 80 people on 24 December, and which were seen as the handiwork of Muslim youths.

Whichever was the case, youths from the Christian-dominated neighbourhood reportedly mobilized and surrounded the prayer ground. Brig Gen Hassan Umaru, commander of the military Special Task Force in the state, told Reuters that the Muslims had completed their prayers before they found themselves trapped by neighbourhood youths who would not allow them leave, thereby sparking a fight.

The fighters on both sides used knives and machetes, as well as bows and arrows. Soldiers, police and members the state security outfit code-named Operation Rainbow, were rapidly deployed to the area. Firing in the air, they dispersed the fighters and evacuated some Muslims who were still trapped in the area.

The fight however spread to some other parts of the metropolis. On learning of the confrontation at the prayer ground, youth groups in other parts mobilized to march into the area and support their colleagues. Reports say soldiers attempting to disperse the rampaging youth met stiff resistance in some areas. Gunshots could be heard in several parts of the city as a helicopter hovered in the sky.

Security authorities have not yet reported on casualties. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Emmanuel Dipo Ayeni, said he did not yet have definite figures. Brig Gen Umaru told Reuters that: “The number of people killed, I can’t give that yet. We are still checking with local hospital sources”.

However, government sources and local residents said at least 20 people were killed, some of them by soldiers drafted to quell the fight. Choji Gyang, special adviser on religious affairs to the Plateau State Governor, told CNN that at least 20 people were killed, some of them allegedly by the military forces.

The fighting had stopped by the end of day, but the atmosphere in the city remained highly tense.

Jos is located in the so-called Middle belt of the country, a zone of convergence between the largely Muslim Hausa-Fulani who constitute the majority in northern Nigeria and many numerically smaller but predominantly Christian ethnic groups who had been long settled in the region. Especially since 2009, the city and the surrounding local government areas had suffered recurrent violence, with several hundreds killed.

Intensive security operations had forced down the violence since late 2010, though midnight attacks and “silent killings” continued in some remote villages. The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Abraham Yiljap, told a press conference in Jos, that the renewed violence was “a great setback to the peace being attained in the state”.

Southern Group says 1,654 kinsmen killed, N970bn property lost to Jos crises since 1994

On 16 March, the Coalition of All Southerners Forum in Plateau State, a group representing the Igbo, Yoruba and Niger Delta peoples living in the state, reported that its members had lost over 1,654 people and property worth over N970 billion to the crisis in the state since 1994. The group called on the Federal Government to compensate the victims.

In a statement jointly signed by Chief Richard Wayas, President, Igbo Community Council; Chief Toye Ogunshuyi, President, Yoruba Community; Mr. John Tunde Oladipo, Co-ordinator of the Coalition; and read by Smart Irabor who is President-General, South-South Community in Plateau State, the group stated as follows:

“We deeply mourn the brutal killings of our sons and daughters numbering 630 Yoruba, 604 Igbo and 430 South/South totalling 1,654 people during the Jos crises from 1994 to date. Without any provocation or seeking political or geographical expansion, nor struggle for ownership of Jos, the three groups, from 1994 to date, lost property and houses estimated at over N970 billion: Yoruba (N450 billion), Igbo (N410 billion), while the South/South N110 billion respectively”.

It said the peoples of these three groups had been targets of unprovoked attacks during crises and called for “adequate compensation from the Federal Government for negligence in the discharge of its statutory duties, for not wading into the situation quickly and stopping the arbitrary killings and destruction of our people.”

The group called for the prosecution of all those indicted by the reports of past investigations into the crises in the state, and also for  release of the White Paper on the Report of the Chief Presidential Advisory Committee on the crises, which was led by Chief Solomon Lar.

Members of the group also expressed support for the planned neighbourhood watch outfit – Operation Rainbow – recently approved by the Federal Government. They said they hope this new outfit will complement the efforts of the police and the Special Task Force in maintaining security in the state.