Newswatch (Lagos)
Tunde Asaju
23 September 2001
All is not well between the Christian and Muslim communities in Jos as an orgy of violence claims scores of lives and property worth millions of naira
Jos, the Plateau State capital and erstwhile capi-tal of Christianity in northern Nigeria witnessed terrible vio-lence, Friday, September 7, shortly after the Muslim Juma'at prayers. According to eyewitness accounts, a week before the crisis, leaflets were being circulated within the Muslim community in Jos and calling on the faithful to stand up and defend their faith.
This followed a strong disagreement between the Jos Development Association, JDA, formed by the Muslim Hausa/Fulani and the Plateau Youth Council, which belonged to the mainly native Christians, over the appointment of a discredited politician as the head of a local government unit of President Obasanjo's National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP.
Joshua Dariye, the governor of the state (a Christian) was said to have appointed the man, a Muslim as the chairman of the programme in Jos North local government area, which initially was part of Jos local government area before it was split into two and which, the Hausa/Fulani settlers consider their own territory. The apointment of the man was said to have angered the indigenes who said that he could not represent them because he came from Bauchi State . However, the Hausa/Fulani were said to have insisted that he and nobody els e would be their representative. They were said to have subsequently mobilised Muslims in the area.
Things, however, came to a head on Friday when a lady who wanted to go to the market found a normal route through which she usually passed blocked by Muslims. Her plea to be allowed a right of passage was not heeded. She returned home and narrated the incident to her siblings who later forcefully removed the barricade giving her access. At this time, the Juma'at prayers was already on and nobody challenged her.
Trouble started when the lady returned after the prayers and was beaten up by an angry mob. Her siblings retaliated and it became a free-for-all fight. By the time news of the incident got to town, an orgy of violence and bloodletting which made the Kaduna and Kano riots seem like mere child's play was unleashed on the city.
Muslims, who were believed to have prepared for the eventuality went to town with the story and began mauling down their Christian neighbours in the Kwararafa area of Jos. Before long, three churches, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, the largest church in Jos, Church of Christ in Nigeria , COCIN and The Apostolic Church, TAC were razed. Following the news of these burnings, the Christians organised themselves into groups and began reprisal attacks. It was a free-for-all fight as the police commissioner, a Muslim was said to have refused the calls by citizens to protect them. Instead, he was said to have ordered his men to go and protect mosques thereby giving the impression that he had taken sides on the issue.
At the University of Jos , the students, many of whom were said to be living at the Angwan Rogo, a mainly Hausa settlement were said to have began mobilising and moving towards the campus. The vice-chancellor asked the police commissioner for help but none came. Exasperated, he then tried to calm the nerves of his students.
While he was addressing them, the students discovered that their Muslim counterparts had left their midst. They immediately mobilised to defend themselves. One of the university students was said to have made a call to his relative in the army barracks in Rukuba. The man sent reinforcement to help the students, but by this time, the students, many of whom were cult members had brought out their guns, and other weapons in readiness to defend themselves against aggressors.
According to Paul Usman, the superintendent of The Apostolic Church, the police did nothing to protect the Christians against what he believed was a well planned attack. He said that when he called for reinforcement, the police only sent their men with batons against the guns, petrol and other weapons being wielded by the arsonists. As a result, the carnage was said to have been heavy in the Christian communities.
By Saturday, August 8, the fight had become more serious. Armed gangs took over the streets leading to the town while other gangs tried to defend their territory depending on who had the upper hand. Refugees trooped into the military barracks while others, namely women and children went to the police headquarters. There, the police commissioner ordered them to be moved to the nearby police academy.
On the streets, cars were smashed and burnt. An eyewitness who gave a testimony at the Living Faith Church , Abuja on Sunday, September 9, recalled the harrowing experience he went through in the hands of hoodlums who asked him whether he was a Christian or Muslim. They eventually put him in solitary confinement until they released him early on Sunday.
Yusuf Adi, a staff of the Nigerian Television Authority and now press secretary to the Head of Service, was away in Jos on Friday on official assignment. He said he had the bravery of his driver to thank for being alive and the fact that unlike other days when he wore his caftan, he was wearing only a pair of Jeans and a T-shirt. He recalled seeing many people killed by the Christians and running into several burnt cars and vandalised houses.
He said he personally witnessed the attack on a Muslim in one area dominated by Christians near the Country Guest House. A man, presumed to be Muslim was brought out and had his head smashed by an angry mob. A woman came to his rescue, but it did not stop the hoodlums from bringing out his belongings and making a bonfire of them. A Hausa trader with a supermarket nearby was lucky. He had locked his shop and went home. But his provision store was reduced to ashes as the hoodlums broke into it and burnt down everything the man laboured for.
Usman's wife also recalled seeing the torching of her own church, she only escaped with her children by hair's breath. Both the church and its convention ground along Zaria Road were completely damaged.
Scores of refugees had to hide themselves in the bush for days without access to food and water. By Saturday night, President Obasanjo ordered the deployment of troops. Even that did not help matters as their commanding officer was shot. He later died by Monday morning. This was said to have forced soldiers to begin shooting indiscriminately. It was thanks to this and a dusk to dawn curfew imposed by Michael Botmang, the deputy governor who was acting for Dariye, who was away in London that saved the situation.
By last Monday afternoon, men of the International Red Cross Society who ventured out to give people succour had counted 165 dead bodies and 658 injured, many in critical condition in hospitals.
By a curious twist, a church was burnt in Bompai area of Kano in what some say is a reprisal attack last Monday. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the Kano State governor attempted to make light of this by saying that the torching of the church had nothing to do with the Jos riot. But the correlation between the two events sent shivers down the spine of non-indigenes in the area.
In Sokoto, Mohammadu Maccido, the Sultan made a state-wide broadcast, which was relayed on the Hausa service of the BBC. He called for calm and reminded the faithful, that they would not be doing themselves and their faith any good by carrying out reprisal attacks in other parts of the country. Maccido, regarded as the leader of all faithful therefore, called on his people to keep the peace.
President Olusegun Obasanjo condemned the crisis in Jos and described the orgy of killing as barbaric and unfortunate. He said that those who carried out the act could not thumb their chests and call themselves adherents of any religion since no religion preaches violence. However, not many people in the state are happy that it took Dariye three clear days to return to Jos when his state was on fire. They also blamed Obasanjo for refusing to declare a state of emergency and Dariye's seat vacant. They said that would have been the beginning of the end of crisis.
After the federal executive council meeting last Wednesday, the federal government however set up a high-powered team to visit Jos to find out the immediate and remote cause of the crisis, and to canvass peace among the Christians and Muslims. Ironically, a week before the orgy of violence, the Lagos-based newspaper, ThisDay, ran a story in which it called on security officials to mediate in the crisis between the two associations in the state in order to avoid a riot. Surprisingly nobody did anything until many lives were lost.
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