Charles Ajunwa
2 December 2008
column
Lagos — The Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) last Thursday conducted elections into the 17 local government areas of the state. Barely 24 hours after the poll, violent protests erupted in parts of the state capital, Jos, claiming lives and property. Charles Ajunwa writes on the controversial poll and the attendant crisis
The long awaited election into the 17 local government areas of Plateau State has come and gone but the outcome of the poll triggered monumental violence believed to have been politically motivated which has left many people either killed or maimed and property worth millions of naira destroyed. The same council poll was slated for March 11, 2008 but the state Governor, Jonah Jang shifted it citing security and the non-readiness of the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) as reasons for the cancellation.
Before last Thursday's election into the 17 local government areas of the state, Governor Jang, in a state-wide broadcast declared November 27, 2008, the day of the rescheduled local council poll a public holiday which he said was to enable the people of the state to exercise their franchise by voting for candidates of their choice from across the political parties in the state.
Apart from claiming that his government had provided all the necessary logistics needed by PLASIEC, Jang promised a free and fair poll saying that a level playing ground had been provided for all the political parties. He also sternly warned those planning to foment trouble during the local government poll that his government would not tolerate such acts saying that troublemakers would be adequately dealt with.
He had declared as follows: "All political parties are equal stakeholders in the Plateau State project. It is incumbent on them to create the right environment for the polity to flourish. We have done this, realizing the high stakes involved for us as a people and government. I have been briefed by the state electoral commission on its readiness for the election."
The election which was conducted by PLASIEC apart from being delayed in some areas due to late arrival of election materials was widely adjudged hitch-free as people came out in large numbers to cast their votes.
While collaborating this, Governor Jang who voted at Du ward in Jos South Local Government Area described the local council poll as great improvement over the earlier deferred election in March this year. It was a claim which the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Pauline Tallen who voted in Shendam collaborated. However, what seemed to be a violence-free local council poll in Plateau State was not be as a politically motivated violence erupted on Friday, setting the state on fire.
It was reported that trouble first started when hundreds of youths in Jos North Local Government Area who were from a particular political party in the state took to the streets to protest an alleged attempt to rig the election in the local government. That was after voting had ended and release of results was being awaited.
The first scene of the growing tension at Kabong, where the results for Jos North Local Government were being collated. The supporters of the All Nigeria Peoples Party candidate for the Local Government, Mr. Aminu Baba, were said to have suspected that the election was about to be rigged in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Timothy Buba.
For this reason, as early as 5.30am, the ANPP supporters allegedly poured into the streets, chanting war songs. In the ensuing fracas, churches were burnt around Sarkin Mangu, close to the old Jos North Local Government secretariat. Counter attacks from the supporters of the PDP then spread to other areas starting in Gada Biu.
It was from that stage that the riot assumed a sectarian dimension as churches and mosques were being razed in parts of the city. Several residents were caught off guard as parents taking their children to school quickly beat a retreat while those already in school were sent away. Schools, shops and banks were hurriedly shut as the violence spread.
The areas mostly affected were Katako, Congo, Tudun Wada, Angwan Rogo, Abbatoir, Sarkin Mangu, Ali Kazaure, Angwan Rimi, Eto Baba, Bauchi road, Apata, Jenta Adamu, Jenta Mangoro, Kwararafa, Zaria road and Kabong. Equally, a number of shops and houses were also torched.
So far reports have it that hundreds of persons have been killed in the deadly violence since last Friday. For instance, two army generals, Maj.-Gen. U. J Uwuigbe and Maj-Gen. Nick Agbogun, who were returning from the Chief of Army Staff conference in Bauchi State en- route Jos to Lagos, were caught in the cross-fire and shot around Naraguta area. Also shot was a Bauchi State Government House driver, Mr. Rutai Mailafia, taking the generals to the Yakubu Gowon Airport, Jos. Also, eyewitnesses said that the dead included eight students of the University of Jos, who were reportedly killed outside the campus.
Besides, thousands of persons have been displaced with many either currently taking shelter in barracks and hospitals or fled the state entirely. The situation had created serious security and relief problems in those places of refuge.
The violence that erupted in the early hours of Friday notwithstanding, later the same day, the results of the grassroots poll was announced by PLASIEC. The PDP swept all the 16 out of the 17 local government areas announced. The Chairman of PLASIEC, Mr. Gabrieel Zi, who announced the results at the commission's headquarters in Jos, Friday, said that only the result of Langtang North Local Government Area was still being awaited.
With that the areas won by the PDP Includeed the disputed Jos North local government area with its candidate, Mr. Timothy Buba. Buba is the younger brother of a former Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr. Buba Gyang.
In a statement, a former governor of the state, Chief Joshua Dariye, said the inability of the state government to react promptly and proactively to the situation was Indicative of a failure in governance. In the statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr. Yakubu Dati, Dariye said the desperate attempt by the government to deny the people the rights to choose their leaders was the cause of the violence.
He equally blamed the crisis on the cancellation of development areas, districts and chiefdoms, especially in Jos, by the Jang administration. Dariye said they were created to give all residents of the state a sense of belonging. He called for the annulment of the controversial LG poll.
Presidential Spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, said President Yar'Adua was saddened by the crisis. He said: "The President is on top of the situation, having been fully briefed on the telephone by the governor of Plateau State. He has also met with the relevant security chiefs, after which he gave the order that the military be deployed to contain the situation.
"The President feels very sad about the violence and all the relevant government agencies have been put on the alert to take care of the injured and the displaced people."
President Yar'Adua went further to task Governor Jang to bring the crisis rocking the state under control with immediate effect. He spoke through the Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey. He also asked the security agencies to cooperate with the governor in his determination to bring peace back to the state.
In his reaction, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Hon. Dino Melaye, described the Jos mayhem as very bad and called on politicians in the state to learn from the United States where a peaceful presidential election was held on November 4.
Melaye said, "The Jos situation is very bad coming after experiencing a very peaceful and well organised election in the United States of America. For a local government election to be marred by this magnitude of violence is uncalled for. We in the National Assembly are condemning that situation. We are using this opportunity to call on all politicians to tell us that democracy will still remain that of the government of the people by the people and for the people and it is not government of the violent and for violence."
While calling on Jos people to please drop their swords and give peace a chance, he remarked further that: "We cannot develop ourselves, our states and our local constituencies in a crisis situation. They should give the President an opportunity to implement the seven-point agenda. In times of crisis like this; it is practically impossible for us to give the President a chance for him to implement his plans and vision for the nation."
The Jos crisis had a ripple effect in Anambra State where there was tension in the commercial city of Onitsha, on Saturday as news filtered in about the violence in Plateau. As for, Abia, the State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji, who was in Awka on Saturday to attend the Ohanaeze election, quickly left the venue to rush back home. "There is tension in Aba and Umuahia now because of what happened in Jos. It was strictly an election matter and nobody should make it look like an ethnic crisis. We are concerned and we hope it will not escalate. Right now, members of the northern community are running to us for protection. We have to do something about it," he said.
Similarly, in Awka, the Anambra State capital, some indigenes who said their people in Jos lost property and relations were appealing to the government to intervene to save them from further losses. One of the worried people, Mr. Tochukwu Ugodi, said his mother had lost everything she had to the crisis following the razing of her shop in Jos.
It should be recalled that over the past few years, Jos has been rocked by periodic sectarian and political crises, resulting to loss of lives and property. For example in 2004, a sectarian crisis in the state led to the declaration of a state of emergency there.
Batches of combat soldiers had been despatched to the State to help contain the worsening situation while Jang has given them and the Police go ahead to shoot at sight. Some opposition political parties have even gone a step further by asking the incumbent governor to resign from office.
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