By Sani Sai’du Baba

My dear country men and women, please permit me to begin today by expressing my deepest regrets over the previous week’s killing of innocent travelers passing through Plateau from Bauchi State. Indeed, that was one of the Nigeria’s saddest days in 2021. Although that was not the first of its kind, but the terrifying nature of this turned it to a burning issue of discourse, especially at a time when insecurity situation, ranging from banditry, kidnapping and other acts of terrorism has ravaged the country, with the north feeling most of the impact. No matter one’s political, religious or tribal affiliation, the images of the callous murder would leave one sympathetic and probably confused. And that explains why I fault Mr Reno Omokri’s response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s inability to eat comment in respect of the dastardly act. To me, Omokri’s response to Buhari’s comment, posted on his verified Instagram page seems to add salt to the festering wound, and a deliberate attempt to demonstrate hostility against the Hausa/Fulani and Muslim North. I may not be wrong if I blame tolerance deficit in the two scenarios. Or on the other hand, the so called indigene/settler phenomenon or again the tripartite concepts. I consider Omokri uninformed or rather ignorant of the factors around the genesis of the violent conflict, with special emphasis to Plateau State.

For the benefit of hindsight, Plateau State has witnessed violent conflicts of differing dimensions, especially in Jos, the capital city, in 1994, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010 with the last major crisis in 2017. But since then (2017), there have been cases of secret killings and night ambushes in different in parts of the state and casualties have been on both sides (the indigenes and the Hausa/Fulani community). Countless churches and Mosques have been razed, and hundreds of lives lost.

To quickly deliver my opinion on the root cause of the persistent violent conflicts in Plateau State, religion is largely the focal point because over the years, mosques and churches were largely the infrastructures destroyed while sparing political parties’ offices.

Historically, Jos is a Hausa settlement and this had been confirmed by Mr. Ames, a colonial administrator, who reported the population of Jos town in 1950 as 10,207, out of which about 10,000 people were of Hausa/Fulani origin. Before the arrival of the British, the present location of Jos was a virgin land and the situation as could be seen today shows no concentration of Berom or any of the tribes in the neighbourhood as being seen in the heartland of Jos town to the extent that major streets and areas in Jos were named after prominent Hausa people plus the fact that they had produced a total of eleven Hausa Chiefs who ruled Jos up to 1947 will, based on my understanding, authenticate their claims. Thus, having founded and ruled Jos, they cannot be considered as strangers or settlers who initially came to pass by. So the Hausa/Fulani established Jos, and nurtured it till it become a modern city without any help from any of the indigenous ethnic groups in Jos. This development is probably the reason behind the envy against the Hausa/Fulani in Jos, deeply rooted in the so called indigenes/settlers phenomena and religious differences which are the whole mark of the violence. The heterogeneous nature of Jos and Plateau State in general has been identified as a key factor to the conflicts in the area. Aside this, lines of ethnic identity quite frequently do coincide with religious affiliation. While the indigenes are mostly Christians, the Hausa/Fulani are predominantly Moslems. Which is why conflict between the two groups is often seen as religious.

Based on my opinion which reflects that of many discerning minds, Jos Muslims are the most peaceful and tolerant in Nigeria. I have my reasons. The first major conflicts in Jos was in 1994 when the indigenes and Hausa/Fulani group engaged in violent confrontation over the appointment of a Hausa candidate to chair the Jos North Local Government Council elections where the violence immediately took on ethnic and religious dimension. Despite constituting the large majority of Jos. Muslims could not hold any elective position in their own State. The same thing with employment in the Plateau State civil service. It was that bad. These are enough to portray the Hausa/Fulani as most tolerant and peace loving ethnic group in Plateau State. Also a strong reason is the commendable action of Imam Abdullahi Abubakar, the 83 years old Fulani man who saved the lives of 262 Christians by hiding them in his mosque on 23rd of June, 2018. Unfortunately only to payback by killing a Muslim retired army general barely 2 months after. Moreover, a small incident between a Berom and Hausa man degenerated into what became known as the Bukuru Gyero road fracas in 1998, leading to violence, destruction of property and loss of lives. In fact, between 2001 and 2004, there were about 63 conflicts with ethno-religious undertones around Jos and other parts of Plateau State and all believed to have been unleashed by the indigenous people of the Plateau.

However, all these worrisome issues on the killings and atrocities going on in Plateau State are not my primary focus today. This week, I wish to address Reno Omokri, an aide of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who robbed it on a festering wound. He spoke hurriedly on what he obviously has no idea about or he just decided to twist the truth to suit his caprice. Mr Reno must understand that he cannot speak on any religion until he studies it. Studying it not because anyone want him to believe in it but rather to gain ground for a valid argument. He cannot study controversial philosophical books and claim he has enough knowledge to speak on religious matters. He can tangle with the Karl Max’s of this world but not Islam as a religion. Reno is amongst a group of people that speak from both sides of their mouth. He thrives on controversy because that is where he gains his popularity. He is gradually losing focus. I fully agree with the saying of others referring to him as someone that lacks an identity. An Identity is what you believe and profess but not simply where your bloodline is traced to. I think he thrives by fueling disunity and hatred among his own people just because he dislikes the president, or his origin. Speaking truth to power is never synonymous to hostility.  The likes of Chief Dele Momodu speaks truth to power, but has not been seen insulting anyone. The truth must be seen to be constructive, polite and built on facts. During his interview with Dele Momodu on May 23, 2021, his portrayed himself as a hater of the North, Islam, Hausa/Fulani and President Buhari.

Back to the matter, he posted on his verified Instagram page on Wednesday 18th August 2021 about the President’s comment that he was not able to eat following the killing of the Muslim travelers that “However, Buhari never stopped eating when Christians were killed. Human life should not be valued according to their religion. So many Christians have been killed by radical Islamic extremists in Nigeria…” and he went on and on. Even though he was commenting on Sheikh Isah Ali Pantami, but his words against Islam were totally unrelated to the subject matter. So I now ask, what has president Buhari done when the same people of Plateau assassinated a Muslim retired major general Idris Alkali in Dura-Du District, Jos South local government area when he was passing through Plateau from Abuja to Bauchi on September 3, 2018? Or are the thousands killed in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Borno, Taraba not largely Muslims? Has the president done anything special on the basis of they being Muslims, Hausa/Fulanis? No. Where was Reno when president Buhari gave spectacular advantage on affected Christian’s faithful? Cases like that of Kolade Johnson is still fresh in our memories. Although what the president did to cushion the effect on his family was right, but he has not done similar thing when similar episode occurred in the North. It is obvious that Reno was only looking for the slightest opportunity to demonstrate his extremism and intolerance against Islam. What he fails to grasp is “GOD lifts high whom He pleases” irrespective of background, tribe or religion. If tribe is the criteria for success and religious endowment, then GOD would have never allowed his boss, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to emerge Nigeria’s President. Interestingly, no one promotes the activities of President Buhari and want to the president to succeed today like Dele Momodu is doing despite his disagreement with the government. That is what we need in this era of divide and rule.

Let me bring to Omokri’s notice that in Islam, the lives of people irrespective of religion are extremely valued. No one will kill and go scot free according to the doctrines of Sharia enshrined in Islam. Perhaps that is why, a mandated blood money/Diyya of about Eighty eight million three hundred and seventy six thousands naira N88,376,000.00 must be paid and compulsory 60 consecutive days fasting observed by whoever mistakenly killed someone and a restorative justice, and death sentence must be prescribed for any adult intentional killer in the criminal justice system in Islam. And these are not peculiar to Muslims killing a Muslim, the same applies when it is otherwise. All these are because Islam values the lives of human beings irrespective of tribes or religion. Only criminal terrorist kills according to Islam, and I believe it is the same thing in Christianity. Terrorism is not the monopoly of any religion. There is a special Islamic principle, written in the Qur’an that states: “Whoever saves one life, it is written as if he has saved all humanity” and that one life is irrespective of religion according to Islam. Despite all these facts and provisions, Reno blatantly said that Islam does not value lives.

Coming back to the situation in Plateau State, one will definitely begin to think whether such criminals in the state are either untouchable or untraceable by virtue of the unyielding effort of the government. So far, several committees and commissions of inquiry spanning from April 1994 to 2010 have been set up to investigate the remote and immediate causes of violent conflict in Jos. However, the current happenings are pointing to either lack of proper implementation of the committee’s reports, or the inability of such committees to identify solutions. The government and the two religions (Christianity and Islam) often in conflict should create a forum that will promote inter-faith tolerance in Nigeria, and Plateau State in particular. Politicians should be re-orientated towards shunning divisive politics and also see the various ethnic groups in the various areas of their jurisdictions as one so as to foster peace. Most importantly, people fuelling division and crises should be brought to book.

My sincere condolences to everyone over the recent Plateau massacre and all other senseless carnages across the country. May God continue to protect good Nigerians.