Wednesday, July 21, 2010

FOR THERE TO BE PEACE IN JOS

Commissions of Inquiry, Commentators, stakeholders and observers have gone full cycle on the Jos crisis. After the debates, peace conferences, Military interventions and myriads of suggestions as possible solutions to the perennial crisis on the Plateau, one remedy is finally staring all of us in the face. Decree 2 of 1991 which brought the Jos North LGA into existence is the problem. The indigenous peoples of the area were not consulted, the LGA neatly curves out only Hausa/Fulani homesteads in Jos metropolis, it was General Ibrahim Badamasi Babaginda's personal contribution to the expansionist moves of the Hausa/Fulani Muslims granting them what they could not achieve via the 19th Century Dan Fodio jihad, it pitted the settlers against the indigenes in a very costly war that will never end except the enabling Decree is reversed, it insulted the indegenous peoples' intellect and forebears, it tore traditional Districts into pieces reducing the jurisdictions of traditional rulers while some indigenes were assigned traditional rulers from other tribes. There is everything wrong with the manner in which the Jos North LGA was created. All the issues that have been problematic in Jos will be taken care of in one fell swoop by this solution. It is the abolition of Jos North LGA and reverting to the pre-1991 JOS LGA until the indigenous peoples decide where the boundaries of their new LGs should be. Please watch out for the 'ABOLISH JOS NORTH LGA' campaign soon to b e launched.