One does not need to cry over spilled milk. Of course, what has been done has been done and the seeming injustice of the emergency rule on the plateau can hardly be excused. More prominent and knowledgeable personalities have devoted time to present their qualified views on the issue. The irreversibility of the emergency rule is, without question, a foregone conclusion not because it was a just measure but because the present regime’s intolerance with popular opinion and constitutional principles is legendary. A regime that thrives on arrogance, pride, and acts with the absolute authority of ignorance of simple principles of democratic governance is not a candidate for attempting to right a wrong even if it recognizes its actions as such. Consequently, I shall not dwell on the constitutionality or not, or for that matter the justification or otherwise of this irksome decree promulgated by the Lord General, Obasanjo on the “insistently erring” people of the plateau. The crux of the matter, instead, is whether a state of emergency is capable to attracting enduring peace on the plateau.

Simply put, a state of emergency, like the one imposed on the plateau by Obasanjo, is to bring sanity to an otherwise lawless society. It is a coercive, fire-brigade approach that seeks to strike terror into the hearts of the society by the threat of an all-out military invasion and massacre if order is not restored in the society. This, in its ideal, is to gain access to an atmosphere of quiet where issues could be discussed and properly addressed. This looming disaster to erring persons and communities on the plateau manifests in the reported statements of the now fire-breathing emergency rule administrator, Gen. Mohammed Chris Alli who never seems to miss an opportunity to remind the people of his powers to invoke hell fire on any dissenting person or community. Are these threats real or are they just attempts to hoodwink the people into passive submission?

Recently, it was reported in various newspapers that General Alli had decreed the death penalty on cattle rustlers. According to some of these reports, Alli has identified cattle rustling as the main cause of the crisis that has turned the plateau into a field of bloodbath. Consequently, a cattle rustling attracts the death penalty, now. I think that is all right since this (cattle rustling) has the potentials of generating security breaches and violence. But that should not be all. The death penalty should be invoked also on cattle rearers who make it a point of duty to lay waste the sweat of others by letting their animals have a field day on farmers’ fields. This, also, possesses the capacity to initiate violence. This is not just an idle statement. For example, just last year in one of the villages in Barkin Ladi LGA a farmer, in a rare display of anger (most farmers on the plateau had often reported such incidences to the police who in turn are bribed by the cattle rearers and the case is closed-just like that), shot one of the cows with an arrow when he caught them red-handed in his farm with half his maize field already wasted. The next morning, the village woke up to a horrifying sight. About three-quarters of the villagers’ maize farms (the maize stalks had just started flowering) had been destroyed, the maize stalks were cut at the bases with cutlasses. It was reported by all news media on the plateau but no action was taken against the herdsmen. That was the end of it all.

Alli has also reportedly warned communities about initiating violence on others. He proposes to employ full military invasion of such places, citing for reference the unfortunate military assault on Odi and Zaki Biam as laudable examples. To further buttress his point, he presents his curriculum vitae (CV) of a 32 year military carreer as the conveyor of the message that he possesses, not only the new political power resided in him by Obasanjo, but also the military credentials to subjugate whosoever would dare attempt to stand on the way of his mission. But while the words were not yet out of his lips, communities have been attacked, villages sacked, and people killed on a consistent basis. Since the emergence of the emergency rule, close to ten different villages and communities (e.g. Sabon Gida, Gidan Sabo, Gwamzhi etc) have been attacked, more than a hundred people killed in these assaults, and properties worth millions of naira have been destroyed. Interestingly, not a single person has been caught and dealt with. More disturbing is the fact that no one seems to be paying any attention to these recurring and consistent attacks and their implication on sustainable peace on the plateau. The drums of condemnation have suddenly become silent, ready to erupt only in a cacophony of discordant tunes in the event of any reprisal attack. For now, people prefer to comment on the constitutionality or otherwise of Obasanjo’s irrevocable decision to impose a state of emergency on the plateau or whether there was a need, in the first place, for this action and ask or justify why the action was on the plateau alone. The truth is that if those who have lost their relatives and properties in the post emergency rule assaults make any reprisal attacks now on the sponsors of their predicament, commentators would engage the cyberspace with renewed energy and vigor denouncing the barbarity of the act. The emergency authorities would clamp down heavily on those who would choose to so defend themselves instead of allowing the attackers to annihilate them. This is the time to put a stop to the acts of violence on the plateau for violence begets violence. Let justice be seen to be done now. Pursue the attackers wherever they may be (even if they hide under Obasanjo’s bed) and let them face the full wrath of the law. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

I also view, with sadness, the so-called government of unity where all political parties would be represented in the emergency rule administrative committee as a huge joke meant to give some semblance of efforts at addressing the problem. Granted, the PDP (with the consent of Obasanjo, Atiku, Lar and others such as Sango) and Dariye had conspired against Plateau State, used the crises as a stepping stone to power, and cheated the people from acquiring the necessary leadership that it sought and wanted. Wase, where the present problems in the southern senatorial district stemmed from gave Dariye his undeserved victory, further inexplicably sanctioned by kangaroo tribunals. But the crises on the plateau are not really political. They are more of cultural and religious in origin and manifestation. The appalling economic situation in the country only exacerbated it but it did not engineer it. How then could a “political solution” solve it, even though this regime believes it is the magic word for all disagreements? I would rather recommend representatives from all local governments, and probably religious bodies to be the fulcrum of administration and where the representatives should constantly be in direct contact with their communities and ensure that any impending problems are brought to the notice of the authorities immediately.

It would also benefit the people of the state to have a conference of nationalities. This should be a forum, devoid of politicking, that should seek to address the roots of the problem. It should be a forum where all participants should have some type of immunity that the members of the National Assembly enjoy such that no participant could be prosecuted for any statements uttered in the process of discussion, for any papers or materials presented at the conference and for any issues raised no matter how distasteful it may be. It should also encompass representatives of all religious bodies in the state, all paramount traditional rulers and a specified and equal number of representatives of the various nationalities that make up the state. No expenses should be spared and no one should be disqualified to represent his/her community if the latter so desires. Only a frank face-to-face talk can bring peace on the plateau. The truth is that the crisis has for long been brewing and no body paid any attention. It was an eruption long penned up which found a vent in democratic laxity on the side of both the federal and state governments.

This is the time to initiate peace on the plateau. Obasanjo should not only borrow time of quiet but also attack the root of the problem. There should be a “point blank” talk conference on the plateau now!

Joseph Dangme Rinyom

Jos, Nigeria.

riyom2004@yahoo.com