We Should Have Attended That Meeting

By

Sunday Damina Goshit

sunday-goshit@uiowa.edu

There are efforts to reconcile the so-called warring factions in Plateau
State. Plateau State has suddenly turned into the war zone that needs to be
handled with caution and efforts are being made to ensure that peace returns
to the war torn state. I am of the opinion that our leaders should have
attended the peace initiative in Kaduna under the leadership of the Sultan of
Sokoto. I have found through my few years on earth that victory has been won
through dialogue!! The press has produced a list of names of people who ought
to be there that were not. They have, I am sure, a list of reasons why they
refused to attend. But for sure a decision has been taken and a reconciliation
committee has been set up. What worries me is the reasons some of our leaders who were invited refused to attend. These include;

1. The imposition of the state of emergency on Plateau State. CAN and indeed
most of us from Plateau strongly believe that the President was dead scared of
the threat by the Hausa/Fulani and so he succumbed. Now leaders of northern
Nigeria which is dominated by the Hausa/Fulani called for a meeting to
reconcile. Whether genuine or as a cover up I believe that the people of
Plateau State and indeed CAN needed to be there to voice their concern over
the hypocrisy of the Northern Caliphate. To let them know that we have over
the years watched how we have been relegated to the second class status. How
our children have died in Kano and Kaduna without apology. In fact they needed
to be there to let them know that the Plateau crisis is an attempt to
forcefully bring Plateau under the Caliphate. Someone needed to be there to
strongly let them know that they needed to let their brothers who came to Jos
some one hundred years ago accept that there are people indigenous to Jos and
that fact must be respected in the interest of peace. They must be there to
let them know that we have been the most hospitable state in the nation who
have surrendered our farmlands to yan lambu who come there every dry season to
cultivate the fadamalands. It is not enough to find out those who actually go
and kill, but to know the reason why they kill and get to the root cause of
the crisis. We must know who sent them, where they came from, why they came to
Plateau in particular. I wish someone were there to let them know that if this
crisis is to stop the Plateau man must be respected as he respects other
Nigerians in their states. They should tell them that it is their duty to tell
people who are rewriting the history of Jos to stop in the interest of peace.
For as long as Plateau people continue to hear people like the Talban Bauchi
continue to threaten our existence, peace cannot be guaranteed. They should
know that as long as people like Wada Nas see the emergency rule and attack on
Plateau villages as a Jihad we are yet to get close to a solution. They should
know that if you block the most harmless, toothless rat in its hole, it will
bite.

2. CAN would have thought that the insult by Obasanjo on Rev Pam was enough
insult. I want to caution against the possibility of not having any dialogue
at all. My Christianity may be too weak. But I suppose there is no better
place to tell the big guys the truth except in such places. I may be wrong in
this, but I think it is a rare opportunity for CAN and the Northern Elders and
most especially the Sultan to sit and have a closer understanding of one
another in the light of these development. Whereas the Sultan, as the Supreme
head of Islam in Nigeria might have been deceived into believing that the CAN
is out to wipe out Islam in Plateau, CAN is also made to believe that all that
is happening in Jos and Plateau State is a grand design from the Caliphate. I
believe same!! Could this be an opportunity to confirm or debunk such
assumptions. Someone needed to be there to let the Sultan know that Nigerians
are tired of moslems burning Churches at the slightest provocation and that he
needs to help Nigerians believe that Islam is not a violent religion. For
example when a beauty contest was organized, the churches were burnt down.

3. I think the people of Plateau State expected a strong voice in Kaduna, not
only of people who would condemn the killings, but of Plateau people who has
seen blood flood the streets of Jos for no just cause, who have watched
villages razed down and the occupiers maimed and killed. They needed to let
them know that the whole country has been experiencing genocide since 1999.
They needed to ask the same question that Rev Pam asked Obasanjo. Where were
they when many people were killed in the Church?  And where have they been
when Plateau villages have been sacked by so called aliens? We should have
been there to insist on a very strongly worded letter to Obasanjo on his
administrative styles. We should have been there to ensure that the injustice
against Plateau was put in the records.

We would have no where to ask these questions and put these positions if we
were not in Kaduna. We had the opportunity to work out on the meeting should
they not reasonably answer our questions. I don't believe in staying from
meetings where I can voice my concern. To me we would have put the Sultan on
the spot and hold him responsible and have a reason to reject his leadership
of any meeting tomorrow. This may not make sense to strategists who may not be
interested in peace immediately. All I want is let my people live in peace
again and we can do that by letting the enemy know that we know him. I hope
someone did.

Thanks

Sunday Damina Goshit