Emergency on the Plateau: Scapegoatism or Lessons

By

Sunday Damina Goshit

sunday-goshit@uiowa.edu

 

One of the best emails I read this year is from a friend who had read my write- up on Gamji and wanted to know whether I consider the imposition of a state of emergency on Plateau state as scapegoatism. I have never met Alpha Umar but we agreed that we had common grounds on issues relating to the crisis in Plateau State and the nation in general. I sent a reply to Alpha, but I thought I should also discuss this with a larger audience.

My answer to the question was yes, not because of the person of Joshua Dariye, but because of the situation the minorities have found themselves in Nigeria.

I am a minority and I am grateful to God for being a Nigerian. But the system has inflicted on all Nigerians minor or major very serious pains. This sounds like a contradiction of my position. However, when the society reacts to these self inflicted pains, the minority groups are the worse for it. The justice becomes very selective. This started with the appointment of Gowon at the brink of war to the massacre of young soldiers who thought they could (wrongly) justify their causes through coups and they faced the punishments for treason. When the turn of the strong majorities came to face the same judgment, they were spared death. Like I always say, Obasanjo survived a death sentence and today he is the President. He, today, claims that he suffered the injustice to keep the nation united. If my brothers had survived the death sentences, they would have been singing the same song today. Indeed, we mourn them as heroes in our communities and we are proud of them. They are victims of injustice in the first place. Their plot was a child of injustice.

The declaration of the state of emergency and suspension of Joshua Dariye can be seen from many perspectives by the people of Plateau.

1. The Hausa-Fulani (not of Plateau indigene) who have assumed the power base of Nigeria for a long time (from colonial period) with the connivance of the British are not a push over. The President has no option but to dance to their tunes. PERIOD. Plateau state people see the entire state and not Dariye as a scapegoat. I wish I could refer to this case without the person of Dariye. I hate to give the impression that I am supporting the governorship of Joshua Dariye rather than the issues at stake. Meanwhile, he is the one responsible for the mismanagement of this crisis. He is now at the center of the issue and the diversionary tricks are on again. While his supporters seek redress, his opponents rejoice, and no one is thinking about the way out of the mess.

I had, during the 1999 elections, told my friends that I did not have confidence in his candidacy, not because he was too young, (after all Gowon was the Head of State at the age of 32), but because he was politically immature. He had the money, but he did not have the political will and credence to continue the legacies of his dynamic predecessors. Look at his credentials and you would find a politically immature Plateau man who would definitely stumble and dabble into ideas that are given by sycophants. It takes political maturity to understand the difference between the infiltrations of the forces of the Caliphate and setting up ourselves against our brothers, the Hausa-Fulani who have been with us from birth. It takes political wisdom to appreciate the fact that there are those of them who are being used by forces from outside to achieve an ulterior motive. It also takes a politically experienced person to be able to bring those brothers together to explain to them the need for us to remain in our God given land together.

Whether Alhaji Dan Maraya, Alhaji Danladi, Teacher Usman, Samaila Mohammed, etc are called settlers or indigenes, it is a non issue to them. They know the contributions they have made to the politics of the state and Jos North Local Government, and sure we do too. In my opinion Samaila Mohammed stands as the strongest contender to the prize of the best Chairman Jos North Local Government. He has more infrastructures of social facilities that are people oriented more than anyone that I know. I stand corrected. Those of us who have discussed politics with them know that they have good intensions. And to be honest none of them is asking the Berom, the Afizere and the Anaguta to move.

Those who want to rewrite history and claim Jos as a part of Bauchi are gone with history. I was shocked to see a report in Daily Trust quoting an 89 year old Imam as claiming that they FOUNDED Jos; just as Mango Park DISCOVERED the Niger. Are these reasonable things we should really be contesting today? Unfortunately no Berom or Anaguta is claiming Sarkin Arab, Gangare, etc.

Neither would the Hausa claim the houses in Jenta from the Igbos. The Yorubas have Nassarrawa for keeps. But Jos as the traditional home of the native tribes cannot be contested. Listen, in America there are the Native Americans.

Today, I can decide to take the citizenship of America, but it does not make sense that in 89 years from today my children would claim to be the FOUNDERS of where ever they live and deny the existence of a native. The Yorubas and Igbos could as well be founders of their own parts of Jos. I hate to join in this blind and baseless argument. I want to believe that this old man was quoted out of context and my appeal would be to Daily Trust to reconsider its position in the Jos crisis and help us out of this mess. The Hausas who have lived in Jos for all their lives until recently were as proud owners of Jos as the Berom, Afizere, Anaguta, Igbos, Yorubas, the Ngas, Tarok, Goemai, Mwaghavul, Pyem, etc. That is why they have contested elections and won. The Yoruba and Igbos have contested elections and won. The same happens in Kano.

That is what we should have enjoyed the more during democracy.

 It is my opinion that the Dariye's posture on the role of the elders was his undoing. Along with youthful exuberance you need wise counsel. It has now become very difficult for us to differentiate between the brother and the enemy from outside. We have given reason for our brothers to be suspicious of us. While the liberation efforts of Gomwalk was to provide information to the people, to educate people, the develop infrastructure, etc we are busy segregating who is a Plateau man. Believe me by now we should have been consolidating on the gains of the influx of people into Plateau State for investments because of the peace we have been known for. We have allowed those who have sworn that the middle belters are good for nothing to laugh last. By the way none of the people we are killing now are asking for indigeneship.

They already are! But those who are killing us in Jos, Rim, Wase, Kadarko, Yelwa (in Church), and recently in Quan-Pan are not indigenes. In fact they are faceless! We don't know them. We don't know who hired them! We don't know where they come! Are our brothers who are scared bringing them in to fight for them? When an enemy wants to destroy your house, it is your responsibility to protect it. You do that by first keeping your house in order. In that house all are yours, the obedient and the defiant. Whether you love them or not. My opinion is that Dariye lacked the political mass. I had suggested that with Dariye's money and goodwill resulting from his generosity while at BCC should have accepted to serve as a Deputy to a politically matured Governor and then he could learn the things he never got to know about Plateau while being a Technocrat.

2. What is consistent in my write-ups regarding the crisis in Plateau State and Nigeria is the fact that it is initiated, propelled and sustained by poverty. This quote justifies and substantiates my position.

"Another major factor behind this conflict is the alarming growth of poverty and unemployment which is reflected in the proverb "A hungry man is an angry man." In spite of Nigeria's huge oil wealth, there have been shortages of fuel and rationing of power and in rural areas there is insufficient clean drinking water. The per capita income in 1998 of $345 was a third of that in the boom year of 1980. In a recent interview Obasanjo claimed that "things were moving" in relation to the Nigerian economy that would tackle the poverty issue that is giving rise to ethnic clashes. However, apart from the benefits to western investors, his pro-IMF privatization policies have only increased unemployment levels. This further adds fuel to the fire of unrest on the grass-roots level of society, as people grapple for land, opportunity, and relief from a multitude of problems." http://www.islam- online.net/English/ArtCulture/2004/05/article07.shtml (Note: I agreed with most parts of this article, but there are many lies or rather unfounded views about the Yelwa crisis and the role of the Tarok and Tarok ex senior military men).

The poverty in the nation is a result of corruption in public offices (with the Presidency very guilty) and Unemployment, injustice etc. This has led to lack of confidence and sense of nationalism. Our leaders do not see themselves as accountable to Nigerians. That is why the President would have the guts to call a citizen an idiot for expressing an opinion. I am not justifying the question. But I am condemning the response. It shows a leader in irresponsible defense of a shortcoming of his administration.

The people of Plateau State (both Christians and Moslems) would have gone to the streets to protest if Joshua Dariye had provided a leadership that is people-oriented. But the people are angry when they look round and see that they have lost all that they once stood for. They are angry when they see the ruins of the Main Market. They associate this administration with blood and senselessness. The people of Plateau State cannot believe that an elected government can allow the state to degenerate into a battle field, while they feed fat on what belongs to the people. They claim that the state is poor, but none of those (elected and appointed) in the administration lives a standard of life that would reflect the lean purse. Civil servants have to threaten a strike to get part of their wages. There are many qualified Plateau state indigenes who have labored to finish school, but are unemployed for years.

This affects all, whether Hausas or Beroms or Goemai or Yoruba or Fulani.

Meanwhile, we are worst for it because our enemies are using religion.

Nigerians, and especially Plateau people, are very religious. It is true that we have a good mix of Christians and Moslems in the state. That should have been strength for us. We should have used it to be our brothers' keepers. But it is turning out to be our undoing. The rich from outside, and those in power and who seek power from within, are using it to achieve their selfish goals.

The sad thing is that those who cause us to fight and kill one another never practice the religions in truth. They find themselves in offices and enrich themselves and their families. Within one year, they build and buy houses all over the places. They suddenly turn into task masters who harass innocent citizens with government number plates. And governance just lacks meaning. And yet on Fridays and Sundays they wear flying gowns and lead the processions.

Very sad and unfortunate.

It is my opinion that there is scapegoatism in the manner President Obasanjo has handled the crisis in Plateau and in Nigeria as a whole. It is not starting with Plateau, but the scapegoats have been the minorities. It was Benue and then Plateau. Obasanjo has to leave a legacy in Nigeria if he wants to defend his posture on Abacha and his boys. No one in his right senses would invest in Nigeria without security of lives and property, when he has to take care of dupes (419), when the infrastructures are not there and yet billions are spent in the Federal Ministry of Works and on NEPA. My appeal to President Obasanjo is to stop playing politics with the lives of Nigerians. If the state of emergency would save my state, I am happy, but many Ngas people have died in Kano, Kaduna etc. Nigerians are everywhere and justice must be applied equally. I know that people have argued that the recent situation in Kano was a reprisal of the Yelwa crisis. There are also arguments that the Governor of Kano handled it well. In any case, people have died in their thousands in Kano since 1999 and may be what we are saying is that we can continue to have short and sporadic death of Nigerian. Only the immediate family members of the victims know the pains of loosing one person. No right thinking Nigerian would believe that Jos rather than Kano and Kaduna, or indeed the Delta and Lagos should be the place to set an example. Please don't mistake my position; I hold no grudge against these states. I may find myself living in any part of Nigeria. All I am saying is that it should be safe for me as home. Our prayer is that even if the President had other ulterior motives, God will use it to save Plateau.

For the people of Plateau State, it is a time for us to carry our Bibles and Korans and open to the pages on Love and Forgiveness. I submit these few to you; "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else" 1 Thessalonians 3:12; "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease...where there is knowledge, it will pass away." 1Corinthians 14:1; ".Love comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1Timothy 1:5; "Let us not love with words and tongue, but with actions and in truth." 1John 3:18; "Love is patient. Love is Kind, It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self- seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrong doing. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law Romans 13:8. THE ONLY DEBT WE ARE ALLOWED TO OWE ONE ANOTHER IS LOVE!! For those who disagree with me on this, I urge you to read this quote from Martin Luther King Jnr: "Prior to reading Gandhi, I had about concluded that the ethics of Jesus were only effective in individual relationships. The "turn the other cheek" philosophy and the "love your enemies" philosophy were only valid, I felt, when individuals were in conflict with other individuals; when racial groups and nations were in conflict, a more realistic approach seemed necessary. But after reading Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was.

Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a large scale. Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking.

I do not want to give the impression that nonviolence will work miracles overnight. When the underprivileged demand freedom, the privileged first react with bitterness and resistance. Even when the demands are couched in nonviolent terms, the initial response is the same. So the nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.

I have come to see more and more the need for the method of nonviolence in international relations. While I was convinced during my student days of the power of nonviolence in group conflicts within nations, I was not yet convinced of its efficacy in conflicts between nations. I felt that while war could never be a positive or absolute good, it could serve as a negative good in the sense of preventing the spread and growth of an evil force. War, I felt, horrible as it is, might be preferable to surrender to a totalitarian system. But more and more I have come to the conclusion that the potential destructiveness of modern weapons of war totally rules out the possibility of war ever serving again as a negative good. If we assume that mankind has a right to survive then we must find an alternative to war and destruction. In a day when sputniks dash through outer space and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, nobody can win a war. The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence." We have a choice of rejecting God and facing the consequences. We have the choice of conquering this evil with love or seeking vengeance and destroying ourselves and the generations unborn. I know the trauma my children went through in September of 2001. I know the unnecessary enmity that has been placed in them against their Moslem brothers for no just cause. We must begin the process of undoing the evil we have planted in our children now. Because the damage is really BAD and we will be the worse for it. We shall definitely be held responsible at judgment.

I suggest that Da D. B. Zang, Solomon Lar, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun, Alhaji Sale Hassan, Alhaji Husseini, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, Barrister Miskom Puepet, Senator Silas Janfa, Retired Gen. Jeremiah Useni and the so many responsible elders we have in Plateau State spearhead a support for the current interim administration. They should organize fora for understanding the basis of our disagreements. In fact they should be asking what happened to our industrial development funds to which all of them contributed. They should be asking about the main market that has been destroyed. They should be asking why we cannot boast of any good industrial base that would generate employment. They should be asking why we cannot have NESCO supply light to Plateau and neighboring states.  They should be asking why is it taking decades to complete the Sheraton. They should ask what is wrong that we cannot develop the tourism industry. They should be asking why we cannot produce and process agricultural produce that are peculiar to Plateau. We cannot do these and many more in the atmosphere we have found ourselves in the last three years.

The Youths of Plateau State should look beyond sentiments. The Youths should be holding government accountable for decaying educational standards in the State. We should be asking why we cannot fill our quota at the University of Jos, ABU Zaria, Bauchi, Ife and Maiduguri and Minna where we are part of the catchment areas. We are should be asking for the rationality behind a University of Science and Technology at this moment that we cannot fund the State Polytechnic and the Colleges of Education and Agriculture properly; and in fact where the students will come from with the poor results from our secondary schools. We should ask why in a Local Government Area we can only boast of one or two qualified Mathematics and English Teachers. If there is anything to fight for, these are.  Gandhi once said "If we are to reach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children." We should insist to be part of shaping the destiny of this state. We have to look at ourselves with love and determination to move our state forward. We must stop taking a minute part of our stolen wealth and start killing each other. We must yearn for peace and pursue it. We must deplore violence as a means of achieving peace on the Plateau.

It is possible to forgive the past and move ahead. The Hausas and the native groups of the Plateau should pay visits to each other at various camps. If we end this crisis at panels again we would go back to it. There must be deliberate attempts to seek for peace and we must swallow all the pride and go all out for it. PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL!!  We can win this war through non- violence. We can be our brothers' keepers again. We can only do this through sacrifices. It will be resisted by those who have feasted on the spoils of our predicament, but we can together stand and pose a stronger resistance against evil.

If Joshua Dariye returns after six months, he would have learnt his lessons in a very hard way. If he does not return, it is a big lesson for the indigenes of Plateau State and especially the various party machineries, to know that leadership is much more than just money and generosity. The Plateau man and indeed Nigerians, are more than an individual and they must be treated as such. We must respect governance and know that we cannot continue to willingly undo our nation. Selfishness and mediocrity must give way to good sense of judgment and consideration for the larger polity. Plateau State must put its detractors to shame. No indigene of Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna or Sokoto can claim to love Plateau more than the Plateau Berom, Hausa, Fulani, Mushere, Igbo, and Yoruba etc. Let our preachers preach love and peace. Let our teachers teach love and peace. Let our parents and elders model love and peace. Let our politicians unite in love and peace. Let the youths imbibe love and peace.

Sunday Damina Goshit