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House Of Representatives Committee On Jos Crisis’s Report And Matters Arising By Ndiameeh Babrik Though the above committee was solely set up on purpose to indict Governor Jonah Jang and the Plateau state government, if the report of the committee is anything to go by, then the committee has exonerated and totally cleared the Governor and has proved his innocence. It is true that the committee has no legal status in law and therefore their action is a nullity. But I have learnt a lesson or two from the report at least for academic exercise and even from the composition of the committee itself. Let us start by looking at the composition of the committee before going into the report. It has become a cardinal principle of the rule of law and in fact it is enshrine in the 1999 Constitution that the six geographical political zone be represented in any committee set in the Federation for the purpose of quota system and Federal character, typically the constitutional review committee of the National Assembly. But curiously in the case of the House of Representatives committee to ascertain the Jos crisis, the above principles were thrown to the wind in the composition of the committee since three members of the committee were from Kano state, while the chairman is from Katsina state. This is in addition to the fact that Abdul Ningi who moved motion for the formation of the committee curiously found himself on the same committee and wonderfully noted he is from Bauchi state! The number front line state to the dispute apart from Kano state! Talk of being a Judge in your own court! Where is the principle of natural justice? Talking of Justice, if in a committee of eight members as reported by the Daily Trust newspaper of Tuesday 6th January 2009; ‘page 5’, Five members are Hausa/Fulani Muslims from Kano and Katsina states where then will the Plateau state Government get fair hearing from such a committee? Since the Hausa/Fulani of Jos North local government are supposedly the aggrieved party to the dispute who are mainly from Kano and Bauchi state? But why did Abdul Ningi who actively and openly canvassed for the formation of the committee is nominated a member? Was it not better to have at a least a member from the six geo-political zones and possibly the Chairman to be a non- Hausa/Fulani from a different zone for at least political neutrality and for justice to be seen to be done? There is no way the above committee will not be partisan in favour of the Hausa/Fulanis in their report as the case may be and as will be seen shortly in my analysis. I have started by saying that my analysis is for academic exercise since their committee abinitio is a nullity in law Since the committee had made up its mind on what their report would be, they did not look beyond their noses even when they were said to have conducted public hearing both in Jos and Abuja as to the remote and immediate causes of the November 28, 2008 Jos crisis and even those before it. That was why probably most of the Nigerian dailies did not report the report in their newspapers apart from Daily Trust if my memory serves me right. Being law makers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, One had expected them to do a thorough job and look at the previous reports of such crises that had bedeviled the beautiful plateau and Jos city particularly since the creation of the Jos North local government in1991. But alas what did we see, just as they came on a frolic of their own, they simply did a fire brigade job and were in a hurry to indict the Plateau state government. As per the committee’s report, one of the immediate causes of the Jos crisis was the alleged imposition of Timothy Buba by the Plateau PDP as its candidate for the Jos North chairmanship election. PDP the party of the deceptive people I guess has its own rules and regulations as is spelt out in their constitution. What did it say on fielding candidates on religious bases? But who is actually closer to Jos North even if it is so, Is it Timothy Buba from Jos South local government or Danladi Pasali from Fagge local government Kano state? But what happened to the threat of going to court to seek redress or even stop the election by the Pasali camp? The committee will agree with me that the violence was pre planned as was eventually reported by the state government. It is a judicially noted fact in Nigeria that when Aremu Obasanjo denied Alhaji Atiku Abubukar the opportunity to fly the PDP flag in 2007 presidential election, he quietly went to the Action Courage to seek refuge. Wouldn’t Pasali and co have done that?
In their report, the committee noted in clear terms the role played by Hausa Islamic preachers usually called Ulamas in calling on the Hausa/Fulani Muslims to vote the Hausa Muslim candidate! This was done openly in mosques! Again the committee went ahead to state the fact that one Idris Mailichafi and some Ulamas were preaching inciting sermons in mosques and the security agents were powerless. The committee still went ahead to indict one of their own Samaila Mohammed for inciting the violence on Bauchi Road. But did it prescribe punishment for Samaila Mohammed or the Ulamas? No. I still insist that their job was haphazardly done. They couldn’t quantify the dead since their source was JNI and JUTH records. Were there no other hospitals in Jos at the time of that crisis? I even remember reading in the papers that time that the two Army Generals attached were initially taken to the ECWA Evangel Hospital and so were many taken to Ola Hospital and the Plateau state specialist Hospital but those were not human beings by the committee’s standard even Nigerian Army Generals! A committee on purpose isn’t it? Again in their report, though they couldn’t give the number of those killed because they were in a hurry to nail Plateau state Government, they were able to tell us the number of shops destroyed and of course the numbers of cars. But they couldn’t tell us the obvious which is the number of Churches and possibly the number of mosques destroyed for fairness sake. The International media had the courtesy to let us know that 43 Churches were destroyed and four pastors killed though it was suppose to be a political riot again PDP. In their report, no mention was made of the word mercenaries even though all the local and international media both print and broadcast was awash with the news that mercenaries were imported from Niger Republic and Chad to persecute the war on Jos and Plateau state. As patriotic Federal law makers of the Republic, One had expected them more than any other thing to view seriously the issue of these mercenaries that invaded the sovereignty of the state of Nigeria waged war on its Nationals! Well Sonny Okogwu the flamboyant brother in-law of IBB have told us that some people who claim to be Nigerians are actually foreigners. By their actions and inactions in time of crisis like the Jos and Bauchi mayhem we will know who are Nigerians or otherwise. Especially when mercenaries are imported to fight us in our fatherland and our supposed Federal law makers who are suppose to make laws to protect us seems complacent about such a serious breach of National security more serious than the Niger-Delta uprising.
Finally and to cut long story short, in their recommendation and as is predictable based on the composition of the committee, they simply adapted the usual grievances of the Moslem Hausa/Fulani of Jos North since the Dariye days namely creating a chiefdom for them and bla -bla –bla. I was thinking they will recommend solutions to the perceived problems they said were the immediate and remote cause of the crisis viz:- undemocratic nature of PDP and other political parties, violence campaign by ANPP Jos North especially and all the other political parties as is being witnessed in Ekiti state now just before the Gubernatorial re-run election. But for where! As a good and objective committee we expected them to recommend that all reports of previous commission of enquires into such crises on the Plateau especially since 1990 should be implemented immediately especially judicial commissions of enquiries which could prescribe punishment. But they feigned ignorance of such reports! They forgot I guess to recommend that those indicted in the security reports of stirring up the violence by preaching in mosques should be brought to justice. The only useful thing I have learnt from their report apart my staying up late night to write this piece is the fact that they publicly indicted the security agencies especially the police and the SSS. Bello Charanchi where are you? That I believe will strengthen the call for state police where the power and responsibility to deploy them rest squarely with the State Governor just like the Hisbah sharia police in Kano. I have analyzed and read over the report of the committee for the purpose of this article and I have not found where the Plateau state Governor or Government was found wanting despite the committee being set up for that purpose. Unless otherwise that report is as good for the trash bin as any other paper. |