The arrest of the 26 alleged mercenaries in Jos represents yet another episode in the lingering crises in the state. It is a pointer to the fact that the last November 28 crisis, which, like the previous ones that led to the death of hundreds of people, is still far from over.
It has also become a recurring decimal in what has now been tagged Plateau‘s seven-year cyclical war.
Penultimate Thursday, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State inaugurated a six-man judicial commission of inquiry into the November 28 crisis in parts of Jos North Local Government Area. The panel is headed by an international jurist ad former Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola.
The commission is to investigate the remote and immediate causes(s) of the unrest; determine the extent of loss of lives and property; identify the persons or group of persons responsible for the unrest and recommend appropriate sanctions and to make recommendations to avert future occurrences. It is also asked to make any other suitable or relevant recommendations.
The Ajibola panel like the ones that probed past crises in the state is threading on a well trodden path.
Since 1994 when the appointment of a coordinator for the National Poverty Eradication Programme in Jos North sparked off problems that led to mass deaths and destruction, Plateau, the home of peace and tourism, has known no peace.
Seven years later, precisely in 2001, the state again ruptured as a mere crossing of a Muslim prayer ground by an innocent passer-by sparked off another round of mayhem in the state.
Since then pockets of crises had erupted in several other parts of the state. However, the May 2004 crisis in Yelwa Shendam became the high point of the crises as it led to the imposition of a state of emergency and the suspension of the then Governor, Chief Joshua Dariye.
Although several judicial commissions of inquiry had been set up to unravel the ‘remote and immediate causes of the crises,’ none had been implemented.
Justice Fiberesima was appointed to head the panel on the 1994 crisis and after the 2001 crisis, the government set up a judicial commission of inquiry, led by Hon Justice Niki Tobi. At the same time, a Federal judicial panel, led by Justice Okpene, was set up to look into similar communal conflicts in Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states. There were other smaller panels.
Justice Jumai Sankey headed the panel that looked into the communal crisis in the southern parts of Plateau; the late Justice Felicia Dusu also led the panel on the Yelwa-Shendam crisis. The climax of these judicial commissions was the Plateau Peace Conference, which was tagged the conference to end all wars
Yet owing to the lack of political will on the part of the successive governments, the recommendations of these commissions, which would have nipped the crises in the bud had not seen the light of the day.
The recurring decimals in many of these crises were the claims by both the indigenous groups and the Hausa/Fulani over the ownership of Jos. The Hausa/Fulani claimed that their forefathers were the first to inhabit the area now known as Jos, while the Berom, the Anaguta and Afizere claimed that they were autochthonous. Even among the indigenous groups, there is still the contention of who owns the land. But if the recommendations had been implemented, the whole issue would have been settled.
The November 28 crisis, which erupted over the local government elections, later assumed a religious connotation and again brought to the fore the issue over the ownership of Jos.
Thus, the main task before the Ajibola panel, apart from determining the causes of the crisis is to put to rest the issue of who owns Jos.
Both claimants appear to hinge their arguments on reports by a colonial administrator, Mr. C. G Ames. Ames in one of his reports was quoted as saying, “The people of Plateau are not aboriginal inhabitants of this province though they have all been living in their present lands for a very long time… The Hausa/Fulani inhabited what is presently known as Jos before the coming of the colonialists, and before the Hausas, Jos was an unoccupied virgin land. The Hausa have been living there since the beginning of the century.”
This argument was captured by Mallam Bala Mohammed, who in an article in a newspaper said that the Hausa inhabited the area now known as Jos before any other group. The Hausa/Fulani, he claimed, had arrived Jos before any other group and that their forefathers were the first rulers (Seriki) of Jos.
But in its submissions before the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on the Jos Crisis, 2008, the Prof. Nenfort Gomwalk-led Plateau Indigenous Developments Associations of Network, said that the claims by the Hausa Fulani over the ownership of Jos were an attempt to re-write history. He asked them to show their fathers‘ farmlands if they claims their fathers owned the land.
He also said that the issue of the ownership of Jos should not be a contentious one as it had been settled by previous panels. Gomwalk said that the Hausa/Fulani had been using a misinterpreted version of the Ames report to justify their claim to the ownership of Jos. Various persons from all the divides also have their own version of the Jos story.
Yet it is these claims and counter claims that the eminent jurist, who had settled international boundary disputes, is to look into so as to nail the coffin of crises on the Plateau.
Justice Ajibola himself acknowledged the enormity of the assignment. Speaking shortly after being inaugurated, the former AGF said that he would do justice to all manner of memoranda before the panel.
He pledged, ”We must start with the premise that we, the members of the commission of inquiry hereby solemnly promise to serve the people of Plateau State and in that matter, the people of Nigeria conscientiously, diligently, honestly and judiciously to the best of our ability towards ensuring lasting peace and security on the Plateau.”
