The process of reconciliation and forgiveness on the Plateau has turned out a long and slippery road to walk. In spite of what has been done so far, there are continuing attacks and killings in some parts of the state that put the Governor Simon Lalong’s three-year Forgiveness and Reconciliation Peace process to test.

It is such that a police affairs analyst, Mr. Sylvester Micah, told The Guardian that, “as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think that there is a concrete forgiveness and reconciliation in these three years. Remember the last Dutse Uku crisis between the Hausa and the natives, which was about two years ago. Dutse Uku has witnessed a series of bloodshed even among the natives.

“Let me also tell you that there were attacks and massacres and loss of property in Mangu Kulben axis, Mangu-Bokkos, Murish villages, Mangu-Gindiri, Barkin Ladi and Miango-Bassa, all within Plateau. The Fulani and the natives clashed recently, where lives were also lost.”

He said that all these incidents happened after the inauguration of the Garden of Peace and Forgiveness. He explained that there was little calm in Jos North Local Government Area that was the epicentre of the crisis. He, however, said certain personalities at the helm of affairs in the current administration were working hard to make the process stick.

According to him; “These personalities will always encourage peace. But that peace is not natural and genuine. It is cosmetic and transient, which can reverse itself if the need arises or when the administration is no longer in the hands of the present political actors.”

However, a senior government official who pleaded anonymity argued that since Mangu crisis, there had been relative peace because there is a beehive of commercial activities within the capital city and other local government areas. Terminus, Ahmadu Bello Way, Tawafa Balewa, and Bauchi Road are huge business areas where business activities are going on peacefully, he stressed. He said okada riders, tricycles, and other commercial vehicles are found operating in every nook and cranny without any harassment or form of conflict.

“There is no longer segregation based on ethnicity or religion, but people are operating as one,” he said.

“So, there are pockets of violence which are immediately handled by the security. These incidents are acts of terrorism, which are national and international problems not peculiar to Plateau State. The Federal Government is handling that.”

Despite the efforts and modest successes recorded at stemming the tide of ethno-religious violence, Plateau State is still in dire need of healing. This was the recent submission of the state governor Simon Lalong, when he inaugurated the Inter-Religious Council, held at Victoria Gowon Hall, New Government House, Little Rayfield, Jos.

As a state emerging from the ashes of violence, Lalong said his rescue administration decided to set aside February 7 of every year as a ‘Forgiveness Day’, to remind the people on the need to imbibe and promote the culture of forgiveness, as enunciated in the holy books.

According to him; “The cardinal objective of this day is to achieve enduring peace and harmony as opposed to hate, bitterness, resentment and vengeance, which only lead to a vicious cycle of violence. On Friday last week, our Muslim brothers and sisters converged on various mosques to pray and emphasise the need for forgiveness. Yesterday (Sunday) Christian faithful also offered similar prayers in churches with the Catholic Arch-Bishop of Jos, His Grace Matthew Ishaya Audu, celebrating mass at the Saint Louis Church to commemorate the day.”

The governor recalled that when the day was first commemorated in 2019; “I submitted that if we imbibed forgiveness, it will eclipse and bury all the wrongs of the past and move us to a new dawn by restoring confidence in our future and ensuring that generations unborn do not repeat our mistakes.”

Lalong urged members of the council to support the Peace Building Agency in finding “lasting solution to renewed herders-farmers’ clashes in some parts of the state such as Bassa, where we have reports that people have been killed in attacks and reprisals.”

Having inaugurated the peace council members, Lalong said it was his hope that the platform would provide a channel through which religious leaders could offer honest, non-partisan and informed counsel on critical matters and present recommendations to government.

According to Lalong; “Let me reiterate that the idea behind the Forgiveness Day is for us to reflect on where we have been, the human tragedy that befell us, the need to appreciate our present situation, and our resolve to craft the kind of peaceful and secure society we desire.

To show that it is not yet Uhuru on the Plateau, a source close to Kishosho and Zirshe communities of Bassa Local Government Area recently told journalists that gunmen suspected to be killer herdsmen recently attacked the two communities at about 1:45 am and shot indiscriminately into the air to announce their arrival.

According to the source, when they arrived Kishosho, they went straight to a particular house suspected to be their target and killed the breadwinner and two others before they moved to the next community.

It was gathered that at Zirshe, another three persons were killed and four others injured by the gunmen, while 10 houses were set ablaze and farms that were ready for harvest equally destroyed before the gunmen bolted away.

The chairman Irigwe Youth Movement, Mr. Ezekiel Bini, who confirmed the unfortunate incident, said the six killed were buried same day and called on both the government and security agencies to come to their aid. According to him, the attack was part of the ploy by the killer herdsmen to sack them from their farms, adding that in the past three to four years, the local government has not enjoyed peace, as a result of similar unprovoked attacks from the herders.

Bini said those killed are John Francis (30-years old), Abbas Gado (45), Sati Yakubu (37), Shandy Rwe John (38), Danlami Sunday (35) while others sustained gunshot wounds.

The Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Abok Nuhu Ayuba, who briefly addressed the issue of insecurity in the State, when the new Director of State Security Service (DSS), Mr. Jimat Olatunji Bakare, paid him a courtesy visit told his guest that attacks on his people were becoming unbearable and alarming and that it had become imperative for all stakeholders to come together to tackle the menace head on, adding that Bakare came at a time when issues of security were on his priority list.

A woman leader at Alheri Market in Jos North, Mrs. Hannatu Musa, has this to say: “Before this government came to power, there were crises here and there. Market places were polarised along religious divides. If you are a Muslim, you cannot go to a particular market where Christians are in the majority; the same thing where Muslims are in the majority.

“But when the government of Lalong came in, that divide was stopped and there is relative peace now. So I will say that this government has tried. Although there are still killings in some parts of the state.

“All said and done, we still put our ears to the ground. If we hear amfara, meaning they have started again, we will all be running in different directions. But we thank God that has not been heard since.”

For a community leader in Zaria bye pass, Chief Eni Okafor; “Peace is a good initiative. You can see that when you come to the Terminus Market. People of different religious and ethnic backgrounds are there doing their businesses. The crisis is because of lack of understanding. People don’t understand the mind of government; that is why there are still skirmishes and isolated killings here and there. The mind of government is for people to live in peace, interact and live together.”

The Eze Ndigbo of Jos and former Chief Lecturer at the University of Jos and former secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the University, Professor Joseph Obilom, said people should understand the governor’s predicament because there is no security arm at his disposal.

According to Obilom; “I think the governor has done well according to what is within his capacity. When you get to that level of governance, you have people who are loyal and working with you, and you have dissidents who are working against you.

“It is for the governor to give instructions but it is for those carrying out the instructions that determine what they do the day. The governor has goodwill. He has done well in the area of security. There were killings before he came to power. And people should know that the governor of any state has limited power as far as security is concerned.”

But for a retired sociologist, Prof. Johnson Michael, Plateau State Government has failed the test of securing the life and property of Plateau citizens.

According to Michael; “I can comfortably say that the Plateau State Government has failed woefully as far as the issue of security is concerned. This is because even up to last weekend, no fewer than three lives were lost to Fulani herdsmen, who have been terrorising the state without checks.

“The rate at which people have been kidnapped and ransom paid, and in some cases, the victims brutally murdered like the University of Jos lecturer, who was cruelly killed by bandits last year, is very alarming.

“Killings are uncountable. There is high rate of car snatching, cow rustling, and cultism as recently displayed and paraded by the special task force, Operation Safe Haven (OPSH). These are indications that the state government has failed in its responsibilities of protecting citizens.”

On what he expects the governor to do, the sociologist advised Lalong to settle down as governor, rather than always, travelling around the globe leaving his deputy governor and Secretary to the Government to represent him.

“He should be able to do on–the–spot assessment of damages and killings, and visit the victims. It’s not enough to send a delegation. Another is depending on Plateau Peace Building Agency, which has failed in reconciling the warring factions. Again, the idea of calling traditional rulers and Fulani leaders is belated.

He should instead take the leaders of development associations seriously and not traditional rulers. By this, he will get the true facts.

“Above all, let there be fairness and social justice but government should not take sides. The security personnel too should be fair and just and those criminals arrested in the past should not be released. White papers of past commissions of inquiries like Justice Niki Tobi Commission of Inquiry, Justice Bolaji Ajibola Commission and other commission of inquiries should be released.”