Trivial 10
aliyutilde@yahoo.com
Jos is at it again. Two bomb blasts a day before Christmas in
Christian dominated areas have today sparked off skirmishes in a
number of neighbourhoods at the peripheries of the main city.
The number of lives lost from the blasts is officially put at 32
while over 70 people are reportedly injured. The number of
victims from today’s skirmishes is not reported. There are
reports that lives have been lost and properties burnt.
Officials have not yet ascertained those behind the bombings. No
group has claimed responsibility. From his comments over the BBC
Hausa Service, Governor Jang is pointing a finger at his
political opponents who want to use the crisis situation to
their advantage. There are at least nine gubernatorial aspirants
contending with the governor for the ruling party’s
gubernatorial ticket. The governor claims that his government
has evidence on the involvement of such people in the incident.
His opponents in the party accused the governor of mastermindin
the bombs, pointing to the large amounts of weapons discovered
in various locations in his local government of Jos South
recently.
The President has condemned the incident and said its
perpetrators will be brought to book. The Chief of Army Staff
called it an act of terrorism and blamed failure of intelligence
on the part of the military and other law enforcement agents on
ground.
Observers believe that the present conflict is likely to be
different from previous ones in the increased sophistication of
the arms used and in the presence of security agents on ground.
The use of explosives was predicted as the sophistication of
weapons used by both factions in the crises continued to
increase with every incident. Explosives are likely to raise
casualties beyond previous figures and make the crisis difficult
to quell quickly. It is doubtful whether increase intelligence
is likely to bring about substantial reduction in occurrence
given the poor state of security in the country. Averting bomb
explosions has proved difficult even for elite armies of US and
NATO in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The presence of the military on ground will help in controlling
fights in Jos town and raids of rural communities by ethnic
militia in rural areas as it happened last February. In previous
crises, damage to lives and property were incurred in the first
2 – 3 days before the military could be mobilized to various
communities. This time around, the military has been all over
the city and its surrounding communities since the February
crisis.
The following days will be tense in both Christian and Muslim
neighbourhoods of the city. If the governor’s claim is true,
then more devastating explosions will be expected to happen soon
in Muslim quarters of the city to give a semblance of reprisal
by the same agents who detonated the yuletide bombs.
There has been concern in intelligence circles that politicians
on the Plateau may use the vulnerability of the state to their
advantage by fomenting further crisis in the build up to 2011
elections. And given the decade of mutual animosity between the
communities, it is unlikely that the population of Jos will fail
to be incited by such machinations.
Plateau state is predominantly Christian and the fight between
the politicians there would essentially be won by who carries
the heat of Christian population. It is unfortunate that the
bombings that cause so much damage to lives and properties could
be done for this purpose.
May God save the innocent and may the inhabitants of Jos Plateau
decide to stay in peace with one another.
Bauchi
26 December 2010