Jos Crises: An
Old Problem Taking a New Dimension
By
Balarabe Yushau
byushau@gmail.com
Any sensible person
that has anything to do with Nigeria must have been disturbed with high
level of animalistic barbarism, and display of total hatred among the
people that were hitherto living peacefully for hundreds of years. In
particular, for those of us from Jos, and Plateau state in general, it
has been a depressing, frustrating and confusing time. Thousand of
people were left homeless and in fear, and there were heavy irreparable
material and human losses. Furthermore, the State has been taken many
years backward. From the beginning of the crisis, I have been
contemplating on what actually has gone wrong? Are we really this bad?
And what are the possible ways forward - since we cannot continue to
kill each other in this manner.
At the time some people
are trying tacitly to justify or politicize the barbarism, I have found
the point raised by Human Right Watch (HRW) and US Secretary of States,
Hillary Clinton pertinent. Human Right Watch attributed the problem to
high level of discrimination that is taking place in the state, and
Hillary alluded to lack of people oriented leadership in the country. My
intention in this article is to emphasize the importance of these two
points as the necessary issues to be addressed if at all we are
interested in bringing an end to similar carnages in the future.
Human Right Watch was
blunt and direct to the point. It clearly states that the
discriminatory policies "lie at the root of much of the inter-communal
violence in Nigeria". With these policies, according to HRW,
"Non-indigenes are openly denied the right to compete for government
jobs and academic scholarships". In particular, "In Jos and in Kuru
Karama, members of the largely Muslim Hausa ethnic group are classified
as non-indigenes though many have lived there for several generations”.
Therefore, HRW strongly suggests that “government should also take
concrete steps to end the discriminatory policies that treat certain
groups as second-class citizens"
(http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/01/22/nigeria-protect-survivors-fully-investigate-massacre-reports).
One cannot agree more
with this succinct observation by HRW. The problem is much more than
that of Hausa “settlers” and other “indigenes”, even among the so called
indigenous tribes, some have a feeling that they are more indigenous
than others. For instance, it is a fact that Jarawa are not considered
to be “indigenes” of Jos by some Berom hardliners. This shows the
complexity of the problem, and highlights the fact that annihilating
Hausas in the state will only be the beginning of an unending problem.
Looking back a little
bit in the memory lane, one can say, with out fear of contradiction,
that this discrimination of Hausa in Plateau State as observed by HRW is
not new. It is only unfortunate that the issue has now culminated into
this dangerous dimension - in which neither the “indigenes” nor the
“settlers” will benefit from.
I remember vividly in
1980 I was in primary six at LGED Primary Jenta Jos. When the result of
the common entrance examination came out, I was among the top best
students. We did the interview in the Township Primary School Jos. This
interview took us complete three days to finish. It comprised of
aptitude tests, written and oral exams. It was unprecedented; we could
not understand why it was made that tough. In spite of that, myself and
two of my close friends got nothing less than 98% in the total aggregate
of the three days interview. In the first day of the interview, we
filled forms that we indicated our state of origin, local government,
etc. I remember vividly people coming to the exams hall several times
announcing that we should never put Plateau State as our State of origin
if our great grand fathers came from other places; otherwise we would
not get admission. The message was very clear to those for whom it was
targeted. I remember vividly how intimidating that threat was to me at
that tender age. In any case, the interviewers seemed to be highly
impressed with our performance. One of them, who was a Principal of one
of the Government Secondary Schools in Jos called us privately and told
us that if we knew some people outside the state we should start to look
for admissions because the decision was that we were non-indigenes, and
would not, as such, get admission in the state schools. She advised us
not to waste our talents (I still remember her face, and thank her for
her concern). Up till today the result of that interview has not been
made public. This happened three decades ago. Anybody interested in this
subject matter should go and check the record. As a result of this, I
know many of my mates who were equally talented, but could not continue
their education because they could not find their way in the neighboring
states. Now, even if Plateau State is not proud of my qualifications and
academic achievements, I am proud to be from Jos.
It is also around the
same time that the government stopped the scholarship of many Hausa
students who were in different higher institutions in Nigeria. As a
result, Hausas in Jos found themselves in a dilemma and identity crises.
They were not recognized in their ancestral states because they were
considered as Jasawas, and were not recognized in Plateau State
for some reason. This necessitates the creation of a movement known as
Jasawa, with the aim of finding a lasting solution to this
identity crisis. This happened at the initial time of Chief Solomon Lar,
and he was titled: The Emancipator. Luckily he was hijacked by
the progressive governors movement, which in my opinion, neutralized
many of these policies for obvious reasons.
There was some sense of
relief when Jos North local government was created, and a Hausaman, by
name Ismaila Muhammad was elected as the chairman of the local
government. It is an incontestable fact from both the "indigenes" and
"settlers" that up till today, Jos north local government has not seen
more development and justice than the period of Ismaila Muhammad (now
representing Jos zone in the House of Representatives). No one was
discriminated, Ibos, Yorubas were all part of his administration. In
fact he was instrumental in keeping Berom in Jos north local government;
otherwise, they were all willing to relocate to Jos South.
With the arrival of late
Fred Taddy as a chairman of Jos north local government, the issue of
classifying Hausas as non-indigene took a formal dimension. Taddy
created a new indigene certificate for Jos North Local Government, where
he categorically itemized three tribes (Berom, Anaguta and Jarawa) as
the only indigenes of the local government. Therefore, while filling the
form, you have to tick one of these tribes; otherwise you would be
issued with a residence permit! As a result of this, Taddy was title:
Dodan Hausawa. Now in primary schools in Jos, I was told that Hausa
children are randomly given states of origin other than Plateau. A
father of three told me that one of his children was given Gombe, the
other Katsina, and the third one Kano.
All these discriminatory
policies even if they are not officially written, are well known in
practice. They are happening in this era of globalization, at a time
when developed countries are inviting people from whatever extraction to
come and add value to their system; at the time when other Hausas that
found themselves in America, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UK, Ghana,
Cameroon, Sudan, Sierra Leone,
etc are given citizenship, international passport, and law to protect
them; at a time when Malay and Indians that were brought to South Africa
for the same reason Hausas were brought to Jos are living peacefully as
South African; at a time when black Africans who were brought to America
for the same reason Hausas were brought to Jos are living peacefully in
America with laws protecting them from any segregation; at a time when
Afrikaans are living peacefully as citizens of South Africa despite
apartheid history; at a time when many Muslims from different part of
the world are living in America, Canada, Europe, Australia, with laws
protecting them from religious intimidation; in fact at a time when a
second generation black African is the COE in the American White house.
Therefore, it
is high time for us to wake up from our sleep and stop showing the world
that we are still living at the Stone Age. Government must take concrete
steps to end these discriminatory policies that treat certain groups as
second-class citizens. Even if
Nigerian constitution is not clear on the issue, the number of lives
sacrificed, and the amount of properties lost as a result of the
discrimination necessitate a revisit to the constitution on the issue.
Hillary
Clinton, the Secretary of State, rightly raised the issue of leadership.
According to her, the Nigerian political leaders have failed to live by
example, therefore increasing the "radicalization" of many young
Nigerians (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8482420.stm).
There is no doubt that Nigeria has not been lucky as far as leadership
is concerned. If not for the fact that we are "Africans", what has
happened in Jos is more than enough for the president of Nigeria to
resign for a failure to protect innocent lives and properties of
thousands of Nigerian citizens, not to talk of the State governor.
However, they are all comfortably sitting in their seats, while
thousands are lingering in various refugee camps. In a simple term,
protecting the lives and properties of citizen is of secondary
importance to our leaders. The number one priority is the power that
gives them the opportunity to divide the national cake among them. For
this, they bury their religious, tribal and regional differences, and
become closely religious - praying for the Almighty to make them smarter
in destroying the economy of the country.
They use
religion when it suits them, while they are the most irreligious people
in the society. They bring tribal and regional sentiment to cover for
their incompetence and corrupt practices at a time when ordinary people
are wallowing in poverty and hopelessness. They deny people basic
education, health care, food, water, light, security, and make the
future of our youth bleak. Some statistics are pointing to the fact that
more than forty million youths in Nigeria are jobless. Many of these
youths are university graduates that have forgotten all what they have
studied. All these are not enough; these so called leaders are
instigating misunderstanding between the ordinary people, the aim of
which is to divert the attention of the masses from understanding their
atrocities. Some even supply these youth with drugs that can lead them
to do all kind of atrocities in the name of politics, tribe or religion.
The victims are all the time the ordinary people who do not have any
direct connection with the actual problem. Otherwise, among all the
thousands killed in these crises, can you mention one prominent name?
The fighting was in Yelwa, Dutse Uku, Unguwar Rukuba, Congo, Gada Biyu,
Kuru, and has NEVER reached the GRA or Millionaires Quarters, where both
Muslims and Christians, Berom, Angas, Hausa, Ibos, Yarubas etc. are all
living peacefully. And each is living in a house that he cannot account
for, with the daily expenditure of the house totaling more than his
monthly salary. My prayer is for the
day an ordinary people in Nigeria will know their real enemies and work
collectively to get rid of them.
In Plateau
State, these political leaders have found the most plausible argument to
arouse the sentiment and emotion of these teeming jobless youths in the
state. That is to say their problems are all cause by Hausas, and they
cannot progress until they get rid of them. This is the tactics they use
to divert the attention of the youth and mislead them so that they can
do more looting peacefully. Otherwise, in what way, does Hausa man
contribute to the difficulty of the ordinary people of Plateau State?
Since independence, what position has any Hausaman held in Plateau State
that has contributed negatively to the current position of the state?
Who are in charge of the state budget since independence? The truth of
the matter is as rightly highlighted by the HRW, that Hausas are the
victim of segregation and discrimination in the State. In particular,
what has the ordinary farmers (at subsistence level) in Kuru Karama did
to their neighbors that deserve this genocide. These are very ordinary
people that are struggling to survive the hardship the so called leaders
have put the state, and the killers know this precisely better than any
other person.
Nevertheless,
whatever perceived maltreatment done by the Hausas, if any, to Plateau
people, does that measure up to the institution of a state of apartheid?
On the contrary, many of the elite in the state mentioned on many
occasions how the Sardauna and other Hausas have helped them to become
what they are. However, if you go to South Africa now and see the huge
disparity that still exists between the indigenous Black and White
Afrikaans after more than a decade of independence, you would wonder why
there has never been war in that country? Had it been that that wise
gentleman – Nelson Mandela - responded to the issue emotionally, the
country must have been collapsed by now. On the other hand, looking at
the level at which Zimbabwe is deteriorating; it will tell us how
emotional response to issues can lead a beautiful and promising country
like Zimbabwe to destruction. That is why leadership is synonymous to
wisdom. Nelson Mandela is an example of a wise leader that has responded
to his and his people maltreatment of the apartheid regime with wisdom,
and the country and its people are benefiting from that wisdom. On the
other hand, Mugabe is responding to colonialism with vengeance and
emotion, and his people are paying the price, and the country is fast
deteriorating. The Plateau State political leaders have a lot to learn
from the wisdom of Nelson Mandela, and the mistake of Mugabe.
Long live Jos
Long Live Plateau State
Long Live Nigeria