Daily Independent (Lagos)
Austin Oboh and Olisemeka Obeche
13 January 2009
Lagos — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, appeared ready for tango over who should take charge of inquiry into the remote and immediate causes of the ethno-political violence that recently engulfed Jos, the state capital.
Despite the objection of the Plateau State Governor who has gone to the court over the issue, President Yar'Adua has stood his ground to set up an inquiry on the recent violence in Jos.
The twists and turns which the attempt to probe the mayhem have assumed is fast becoming a subject of public interest.
Yar'Adua, last weekend, described Jang's posture on the matter as belligerent. He was referring to Jang's insistence that it was the state and not the Federal Government that had the responsibility to inquire into the matter.
Speaking through his spokesman, Segun Adeniyi, the President explained that while he respected the federal structure he had also taken note of his responsibility to all Nigerians wherever they may live. He pointed out that there was nothing illegal or unconstitutional in his setting up of the Emmanuel Abisoye-led panel of inquiry.
Adeniyi said the quantity and sophistication of arms used in the violence indicated an intricate planning and stockpiling of weapons that raised serious national security concerns and warned that "the recent tragedy in Jos, which claimed hundreds of innocent lives had happened several times in the past and there are indications that it could happen again, if nothing is done to address the problem."
Speaking further, he said: "It is very deliberate that the panel is not headed by a retired or serving judge because it is not a judicial panel of enquiry but a fact-finding panel whose report can help navigate the current crisis while guiding against future occurrence. The belligerent posture of the Plateau State Government is rather unfortunate, but (Yar'Adua) is more interested in the cause of peace than in trading words with anybody. He believes that in situations like this leaders have to be very sober and responsible so as not to inflame passion; that is why he has directed that nobody should respond to all the provocative statements from the Plateau State Government.
"Some people tend to ignore the fact that for the first time in our recent history, we had a crisis of such magnitude in one city and there were no reprisals anywhere in the country. At a point, some people were grandstanding and speaking the language of war but (Yar'Adua) was busy reaching out to important stakeholders to help douse tension."
He recalled that this same problem led former President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare emergency rule on the Plateau, the first such step in this democratic dispensation, a line Yar'Adua does not want to toe.
"Over breakfast in Aso Rock shortly before the final lap of the Democratic primaries between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, (Yar'Adua) explained to the visiting former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in what 'I saw then as a subtle campaign for Obama that his election would not only be good for American race relations but that it would serve as a good lesson for many African countries, especially Nigeria, with regards to issues of minority rights, ethnicity, indigeneship and all that.'
"But now we seem to be learning nothing from that experience, with some leaders still speaking the 'we versus them' language when everyone is subject to their authority and should be protected. The President finds the whole situation very troubling."
NASS's Involvement
House of Representatives Defence Committee Chairman, Wole Oke, has also argued that the National Assembly has constitutional powers to investigate the mayhem in Jos or any other one in any part of the country. He made the clarification in Esa-Oke, at the weekend when he hosted Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to a luncheon. Oke praised Yar'Adua for setting up a panel to probe the matter, as no serious government would fold its arms and allow the nation to be on fire before taking any decisive action.
The committee set up by the House of Representatives to investigate the causes of the recent crisis that followed Plateau State Local Government election in Jos began sitting on Monday, January 5, in Jos. Chairman of the committee, Isah Idris Umaru, said they were in Jos to receive memoranda from the general public.
The constitution of the House of Repreentatives Committee has attracted objections like the ones set up by Yar'Adua and Plateau Governor, Jonah Jang. A group called Confederation of Plateau Youth Movement said they would not attend the committee's sitting and criticised the composition of the members of the committee at a press briefing addressed by the Chairman of the group, Silas Vem.
He said the composition of the members was not fair to the Christian community because out of the eight members of the committee three are Christians, five are Muslims, and criticised Abdul Ningi who moved the motion for the setting up of the committee. Besides Isah Umaru, other members of the committee include Chile Igbahuwa, Adefolabi Adeole, Darlington Orkarde, Abdul Ningi, Johnson Abologbo, Sani Saleh Minjibir, Abdullahi Garba Bungudu and Ezenne Nwacheize, Secretary of the committee.
Matters Arising
Yar'Adua, on December 25, 2008, constituted an administrative panel headed by Major-Gen. Emmanuel Abisoye (rtd) to inquire into the Jos crisis. Other members of the panel were Festus Okoye, Ambassador G.B. Preware, Fatai Sa'ad Abubakar and Musa Shafi'l (Secretary). The terms of reference of the panel included looking into the cause or causes of the crisis, and identifying those responsible for it.
In response to the Federal Government's action, Jang promptly filed a suit at the Supreme Court to decide whether the President had the power to inquire into any violence in the 36 states of the federation?
Jang also asked the apex court to order Yar'Adua to stop meddling in the affairs of the state in the aftermath of the November 28, 2008 Jos crisis.
Jang, who is suing the President on behalf of the state, has invoked the original jurisdiction of the apex court by requesting it to stop a panel set up by Yar'Adua from probing the mayhem in which hundreds of lives and properties worth millions of naira were lost.
In the suit filed by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Jang asked the Supreme Court to declare that Yar'Adua had no power under the 1999 Constitution or the Tribunal of Inquiry Act 1966 (now to be found in Cap T21 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) to constitute a tribunal or appoint any person or group of persons by whatever name called to inquire into the Jos unrest.
He also requested the court to hold that the power to constitute a tribunal to inquire into the violence was a residual matter on which only the state House of Assembly was competent to make law, vide section 4(7) of the constitution.
Consequently, Jang urged the court to grant an injunction restraining the panel from inquiring into the Jos mayhem.
Similarly, he sought an injunction restraining the Federal Government and its agents from directing anyone or a body of persons to sit or continue to sit as a tribunal purporting under the Tribunal of Enquiry Act on the disturbance.
In an affidavit sworn to by the Director of Civil Litigation in the Plateau State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Florence Lotben, the state said Yar'Adua had no power to meddle in a crisis involving residents of Jos North Local Government Area.
She added in the affidavit which was attached to the originating summons that: "The right or power to conduct any inquiry into the said Jos crisis of 28th November 2008 belongs exclusively to the Plateau State Government, as a residual matter.
"The act of the Federal Government in setting up the said administrative panel of inquiry into the said Jos crisis is calculated to usurp the constitutional power vested in the Plateau State Government for reasons best known to the Federal Government."
Jang said that Yar'Adua did not consult him before setting up the panel to investigate events that took place within his jurisdiction.
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