Jos — In the eyes of many Nigerians who have agonisingly watched the mass butchering of Nigerians by fellow Nigerians in the name of ethno-religious crises, if the government at the state or federal levels ,at the time of the outbreak of the crises, had taken the appropriate steps, there would not have been a recurrence of the bloody crisis. Perhaps the countless deaths which have been recorded resulting from subsequent incidents would have been averted.

They accuse the government of fanning the embers of the crisis, which has repeatedly reared its ugly head in Jos, Plateau State with graver outcome, through their persistent inability to implement findings of commissions they instituted for the purpose of forestalling future occurrence.

One pointer they allude to is that so far, nobody has been implicated and put on trial for the mayhem, in spite of the colossal loss of lives and property in that state. In their opinion, the government may be deliberately shielding some individuals or groups, whom they may have found culpable in the crises. They aver that government's apathy on the issue emboldens the perpetrators to unleash more mayhem.

The recent constitution of another commission of enquiry to look into the sectarian crises which erupted again in Jos North recently, brought to the fore the people's gradual loss of confidence and trust in the ability of the government to bring a lasting solution to the crises in that state.

According to watchers of the theatre of death which Jos, the Plateau State capital has unfortunately turned into in the wake of the recurring ethno-sectarian crises, governent at the state and federal levels, whose duty it is to find out the causes and culprits in the crises, always turns a blind eye, after the individuals responsible for the killings have been unmasked.

Alluding to the 2008 crises that rocked the city before the last one, they lamented that even though the government at state and federal levels set up separate enquiries, none had been bold enough to make known the findings of the commissions.

'The state panel headed by Prince Bola Ajibola, a former minister of Justice and a one time justice of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) , completed its work in 2009 and had since submitted its recommendations to the state government. 'The retired Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Abisoye presidential panel has yet to complete its investigation.

The present commission of enquiry set up by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has also begun to generate controversy over the membership of the board and its frame of reference.

Some indigenes of Plateau State who spoke on the new panel said the committee did not reflect all the interest parties in the crises. According to them, although co-chaired by a Christian and a Muslim, some of those affected on the grounds of their ethnicity felt they were sidelined in the committee.

Following the composition of the15-man committee co-chaired by first civilian governor of Plateau State Chief Solomon D. Lar and Amb. Yahya Kwande, a board member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, to look into the causes of the January 17th 2010 civil unrest in Jos Norths and South local governments of the state, there are mixed reactions in the state capital. Some residents who spoke with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND expressed their reservation about the configuration of the committee

A University of Jos lecturer who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity condemned the new committee, saying that government is always eager to set up committees, but slow to implement the findings of such committees, especially when those indicted may be 'friends' of the government. According to him, that informed government's inability to make public the findings of the 2001 and 2008 crises.

"Government is never sincere with the people. The case of Jos crises has proved that government prefers to protect a few individuals who unleash mayhem on innocent people than to expose such people. How can one explain that after a crisis in which over 1000 people were killed in 2008 and both state and federal governments quickly set up committees to look for the cause of the crisis, the findings of the committees did not see the light of day before the recent crisis broke out?"

Dr. Humphrey Chollom, a medical practitioner in the state who narrated gory story of some patients who narrowly escaped death during the crisis and took refuge in his hospital, said the only way government would win back the confidence and trust of the Jos people and Nigerians in general, would be to transfer the power of implementing the findings of the present committee from the government to the National Judicial Council. According to him, the crises would cease to reccur when government decides to implement the findings, no matter whose ox is gored.

"I blame government for all these killing in Jos. This is not the first time they set up committees. In 2001 they set up a committee; in 2004 they set up another committee and in 2008, another one. If they had implemented the 2001 report, perhaps the crisis of 2004 would not have happened and so on.

"This time, they have set up another committee with the same frame of reference. One fear they have is implementing the recommendations of the committee, since that could ruffle some feathers and maybe deprive some people of what they gain from the crises," Chollom said.

Barrister Haroun Audu, chairman of the Plateau State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relation (NIPR) and a Jos-based marketing communication consultant, however praised the vice president for the committee, saying that the vice president is on top of the situation. He told LEADERSHIPWEEKEND that it is always good to see government making moves in the area of wanting to address issues associated with violent crises of this nature. "There have been several committees, panels and commissions in the past, and it is a demonstration of the vice president's total commitment to ensure there is lasting peace on the Plateau.

"The vice president has demonstrated sagacity in leadership that had been lost in the last four years and since violence reared its ugly head in Jos. So I commend the vice president for his show of concern.

"It is good that there is a committee, but we have to be very careful. The content of constituting a committee appears to have created the basis. For one, I am a bit confused as to why members of the committee do not address their minds to covering the entire field. What I mean by covering the entire field is that it appears that the issue is reduced to either a Christian and Muslim situation requiring resolution, or a Hausa/Fulanis versus the indigenes issue, requiring resolution in the state," he said.

He added that the configuration of Jos North is such that there are different people like the Urhobo, who have the history of being in Jos much longer than other ethnic groups in Jos North or settler groups that are laying claims. There are also the Yorubas who have a huge residential stake in Jos North.

In his words , "There are Igbos who also have a huge commercial and residential stake in Jos North; so in addressing whatever are the underlying views, one expects that this committee would have helped to expand and accommodate the views of these important stakeholders, who by right constitutionally and by virtue of long residents of Jos North, ought to be part of the committee."

"I think that is very important. My advice is that a committee has been constituted, a 15-man committee. The question is whether some of the members are not part of the problem themselves. If they are, right now they are part of the solution; it is a step in the right direction, as long as people will speak the truth. We must bring in all the stakeholders that I mentioned, so that their views can be heard."

Musa, a film producer, who lamented that the incessant crises in the state have robbed him of clients, and adversely affected the state of a movie industry which had just started to blossom before the various crises, pointed out that people must speak the truth in the committee. According to him, in times of crisis, the first casualty is always the truth.

"We've had crises in 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2010 and its all a result of the desperation of some elements whose stock in trade is the ambition to capture Plateau State and in the course of it, they do not mind killing innocent people.

"We want the truth to be told. People must learn to live together and if you are a settler, like I am and, I make no apology for that, try to conduct yourself in a manner so that people can live with you in peace. If I am a settler, I should know that my host community has certain things I must not do to find accommodation. Arrogance and to looking for either religion or ethnic relevance is what will always take us back. The host communities are quite accommodating."

Reacting also on the composition of the committee, Reverend Chuwang Davou, secretary Plateau State chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), and the president, Grace and Peace Foundation and Centre for Leadership Development in Africa, expressed appreciation to the vice president for inviting the stakeholders to the Presidential Villa, Abuja for dialogue on the way forward and for the restoration of peace on the Plateau.

"I was part of the meeting, although I have my own observations on the composition of the committee membership. The people of the state should have been allowed to select those who will serve on the committee to seek for lasting peace and reconciliation in the state. Although the members are people from Plateau State, there are some people on the committee who were indicted by the last panel; people like former minister of state for Communication, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande. These people who are part of the problem should not serve on a committee set up to sit and deliberate on the way forward in the state."

Davou also noted that Plateau State has over 52 ethnic groups, saying that at least a few individuals from these ethnic groups should have been on the committee. "The Church," he said "is also involved. We have only one representative, who is the president of CAN, Plateau State chapter."

According to him, there are heads of denominations of churches who are supposed to be included on the committee. Apart from that, traditional rulers also should be on the committee, like the Gbong Gwom Jos, Gyang Buba and the emir of Wase.

Barrister Lawal Ishaq, the secretary, Ulama Elders Council, Plateau State, in his reaction told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that the council has not taken a formal stand on the composition of the committee in the state, but however said the composition of the committee by the vice the president is a step in the right direction.

While stating that some members of the committee are credible people, he expressed his reservation about some others. He mentioned Prof. Nenfort Gomwalk, whom he said also presented a memo before the Abisoye panel.

According to him, such a person, who is also part of the problem, should not serve as a committee member to proffer solutions.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, the state chairman of Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, (CNPP), Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf Kanam, said that he is quite convinced that the people on the committee are trustworthy individuals, both nationally and internationally. According to him, religion-wise, the members of the committee are recognised and people are expecting the best and a lasting solution to the incessant crises on the Plateau from them.

He added that if the members of the committee are not biased, they would definitely succeed in finding a lasting solution to the ethnic- religious crises in Plateau State and the country in general.

Chairman of the Plateau State chapter of Labour Party, (LP), Comrade Yielte Digwan, whose house and a car were torched during the crisis, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND while reacting to the composition of the committee by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, that the committee would not achieve much, because those on the committee were not stakeholders and were not affected by the crises.

He wondered why the common man on the street who feels the pain each time a crisis erupts was not included on the committee. According to him, the committee members are those who have been battling the state government in the last two years under the auspices of PDP, while some of the committee members are members of the PDP caretaker committee.

Digwan further noted that people like Saleh Hassan and the former minister of state for Communication, Dasuki Nakande were indicted by the government white paper report on the Jos crisis, adding that such people should have nothing to do with such an important committee.

Fidelis Ezea, a Jos-based business man of Igbo extraction, in his reaction to the composition of the committee, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that the question is whether the 15-man committee has constitutional power to investigate what happened in Jos in January. He alluded to the long absence of President Yar'Adua saying, "This is a country without a president, no commander-in-chief, no acting president, so how did they get the constitutional backing, since Jonathan is not even acting president?" He also queried what had happened to the previous reports on the 2001 and 2009 Jos crises.

The Muslim Ummah in Jos North local government council of the state, in their reaction to the composition of the committee through their spokesperson, Alhaji Sani Mudi, a PDP chieftain and former deputy chairman of Jos North local government council, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that the composition of the committee is a welcome development in the state, pointing out that this has demonstrated the seriousness of the federal government to tackle the incessant Jos crises.

According to him all the members of the committee are prominent sons and daughters of the state who know Plateau State and Nigeria very well, stressing that the calibre of people on the committee would definitely make an impact, as their contributions, will bring lasting peace to the Plateau and Nigeria at large.

However, the Igbo, Yoruba and South South communities in Jos have accused the federal government of sidelining them in the composition of the 15-man committee on the most recent Jos crisis.

Spokesperson for these affected communities in Jos North, Chief Chidi Ndu, in a press statement issued on their behalf in Jos, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that inasmuch as the initiative of the federal government is laudable, there is no way the Yoruba, Igbo and South South communities in Jos, whose population put together is over 1.5 million, should not be given a place on a committee that is saddled with the responsibility of bringing lasting peace in the Jos North local government area.

According to Chief Ndu, the affected communities suffered greatly during last month's crisis that saw their houses, shops and property burnt and looted.

The communities also noted that Jos is called a Miniature Nigeria, largely because of the mixed composition of ethnic nationalities that are found to have settled within the same city, and wondered why the federal government should not deem it fit to set up a larger committee that would enable all the stakeholders in Jos to bring forward what they feel should bring lasting peace to Jos.

Vice President Jonathan, still holding brief for President Yar'Adua who has been away, inaugurated a 15-man committee to identify the immediate and remote causes of the recent ethno-religious crisis which rocked the state.

The committee, set up at the end of a consultative meeting presided over by the vice president at the state house presidential villa, will be co- chaired by Chief Solomon Lar and Amb. Yahya Kwande.

Other members of the committee are Mrs. Hannatu Chollom, Mr. John Samci, Prof. N. Gomwalk, Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, Amb. Fidelis Tapgun and Senator John Shagaya. Others are Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, Hon. Leo Dilkon, Most Rev. I.A Kaigama, Sheikh Dawud Balarabe, Mrs. Fati Kyri, AVM U Abbas and Alhaji Saleh Hassan.

The committee is ,to among other terms of reference, critically examine the issues surrounding the recurrent violence in Plateau State and work out how various institutions and levels of government can interact to ensure that the crisis is resolved once and for all.

In his remarks before the inauguration, the vice president said "Although there were minor social conflicts even in times past, what we have witnessed recently is really quite embarrassing and we all will collectively see how we can bring this to an end. My brothers and sisters with equal stake in what is happening, we must realise and come back to re-establish our bond of social solidarity defined by symbiotic relationship, by the spirit of live and let live."

Be that as it may, the people of the state and the entire country are anxiously waiting to see the outcome of the 15-man committee. Whether the committee will produce a road-map to lasting reconciliation and peace in Plateau State and the country in general, only time will tell.

Does the government have the willpower to thoroughly implement the findings of the committee especially when chances are that the findings may still point fingers at influential members of both religions as being behind all the mayhem? Maybe this has been the reason why government more or less jettisoned the findings of all the previous committees set up to look into Jos crises. What are the chances that this present committee and the government that set it up would not be confronted with this same challenge and again be forced to sweep the findings of the Lar/Kwande-led committee under the carpet?.