MORE KILLINGS IN JOS

News filtered in this morning that unknown persons attacked and killed three people in Kwata village, about 14 km from Jos, at about 11:30 pm last night. The village head was on State television saying that between 7 and 8 men, dressed in black, were seen speeding in a pick-up van and shouting, "The Fulanis are here. The Fulanis are here." The unknown men then proceeded to shoot the villagers sporadically killing 3 people and wounding 2 who are now in hospital.

A month ago, 7 persons were killed in Bassa LG in similar fashion. Of course, the Mazzah incident in Jos East LG of three months ago is still fresh in our memories.

Note that all these armed attacked were totally unprovoked. Also, the communities attacked have remained calm and law-abiding. The Dogo Na-Hawa and Kuru jenta attacks were also not avenged by the villagers.

As usual, the Joint Task Force (JTF) personnel stationed all over the Jos area, arrived after the deed was done and they could not arrest anyone. It appears these attackers have some understanding with the JTF. How come they search us thoroughly when we meet then while armed bandits seem to pass their check-points unnoticed? Should we retain the JTF after such dismal failure to defend us? Are we sure that the Fulanis and Muslims among them are being partisan in these repeated attacks?

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM 1899

Winston Churchill On Islam A quote from an 1899 book by Winston Churchill, "The River War", in which he describes Muslims he apparently observed during Kitchener 's campaign in the Sudan

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities.Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modernEurope might fall, as fell the civilisation ofancient Rome." Someone should please correct this 100 year old impression.

THE MIDDLE BELT DIALOGUE

I wish to use this space to announce the launch of a new movement that seeks to promote the actualization of the Middlebeltan in the geographical entity called Nigeria after 50 years of marginalization. All the text below, which includes the communique issued at the end of the their first conference, has been copied from their website. It is a cause to which I fully subscribe:

A Middle Belt Summit organised by the Middle Belt Dialogue held at Manyi Royal Suite, Lafiya, Nasarawa State from 17th to 18th September 2010. Delegates from Kogi, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kebbi, Niger, Gombe,Taraba, Benue States and the Federal Capital territory were in attendance. Key note addresses were presented by Professor Yusufu Turaki and Dr Bala J Takaya. Delegates thereafter broke into syndicate groups to discuss issues raised in the presentations as well as issues that had been discussed on the social networking platforms of the Middle Belt Dialogue.

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE BELT SUMMIT ORGANISED BY THE MIDDLE BELT DIALOGUE, HELD AT THE MANYI HOTEL, LAFIA, NASARAWA STATE, 17TH – 18TH SEPT. 2010. A Middle Belt Summit organised by the Middle Belt Dialogue held at Manyi Royal Suite, Lafiya, Nasarawa State from 17th to 18th September 2010. Delegates from Kogi, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kebbi, Niger, Gombe,Taraba, Benue States and the Federal Capital territory were in attendance. Key note addresses were presented by Professor Yusufu Turaki and Dr Bala J Takaya. Delegates thereafter broke into syndicate groups to discuss issues raised in the presentations as well as issues that had been discussed on the social networking platforms of the Middle Belt Dialogue. It was resolved that the Middle Belt Region would support all efforts by politicians and activist groups to expand the political space in Nigeria as the 2011 Elections approaches so as to allow all groups and peoples of Nigeria to be incorporated into the Nigerian project. In that light, the Middle Belt Region will vigorously support the bid by President Jonathan Goodluck to run for the 2011 Presidential election because he presents the best prospect for more a democratic and just Nigeria. Furthermore, the Summit notes that the South-West, the North and now the South-South have held the Presidency. Consequently, the Summit resolved that by 2015 it would be the turn of the Middle Belt to produce the President. To achieve this noble goal, the Summit calls on all social and political groups including churches and traditional institutions to immediately commence vigorous mobilization of the people of the Middle Belt to come out en mass to register for the forth coming general elections. The Summit notes with great concern the increasing tendency by the Hausa Fulani Oligarchy and also other Nigerians who in their home regions and states forcefully protect their ancestral rights to land and traditional institutions only to deny the same rights to Middle Belters. It is now common practice for Nigerians from other zones to lay claim to ancestral rights of their Middle Belt host communities, sometimes attempting to chase out their hosts from their lands by means of violence. Land ownership everywhere in Nigeria is based on ancestral rights, but in the Middle Belt everybody claim ancestral rights to land and traditional institutions . The Summit therefore resolved that all non Middle Belters resident in our region remain settlers, without prejudice to their constitutional citizen rights, just like our people are treated in other parts of Nigeria. The summit viewed with concern the spate of attacks on communities of the Middle Belt and the complicity of the security agencies in allowing the free flow of arms and ammunitions. It is sad that up to date the people who were allegedly arrested for the genocide at Dago Nahauwa, Riyom and Mazzah are yet to be prosecuted. Over 200 school children at Chwelnyap who were picked by the Army in Jos are still in detention without trial. The Summit therefore resolved that henceforth, any attack by any aggressor on any community of the Middle Belt, would be considered an attack on all parts and people of the Middle Belt. The Summit welcomes the recent changes in the high command of the Armed Forces and other security agencies. The Summit is however dissatisfied that the General Officer Commanding GOC, 3rd Armoured division, Jos, General Saleh Maina who has demonstrated gross incompetence in managing the security of Jos and grown contemptuous of the Constitution. He has assumed exclusive control of the security of Jos and is behaving as alternative governor. The Summit therefore insists that the allegations of extra judicial killings personally ordered by General Maina and other serious allegations should be investigated be brought before a Court Marshall since the allegations are numerous and persistent. The Summit is alarmed and concerned with the continuous selective retirement of military officers of middle belt origin from the Nigerian Armed Forces. Over 40% percent of military officers retired in the recent retirement exercise are of middle belt origin. The Summit calls on the President to institute an inquiry into this situation. The summit calls on politicians and political parties to encourage and support women and youths of the Middle Belt to go into partisan politics and productive economic activities. Mr. Rima Shawulu Kwewum, Facilitator, Middle Belt Dialogue Barr. Mark Jacob, former PDP National Legal Adviser Ms Ngukwase Surma, Political Activist

ISLAMIC HONOR KILLINGS IN AMERICA

We are told that Islam is a religion of love and peace. In reality, it appears to be more a religion of hate and murder. The vicious acts of terrorism aside, consider the practice of honor killing. This is defined by the Human Rights Watch as “acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family.” These are very common in the Middle East and Turkey. According to the United Nations, 5,000 females are murdered every year (“Murder in the Family,” Fox News, July 26, 2008). The perpetrators usually get off scot free or with a light sentence. Islamic apologists pretend that honor killings are “cultural” rather than a product of Islam, but Jihad Watch reports that in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down ON ISLAMIC GROUNDS a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings, and Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values” (“Muslim Ran Down Daughter,” Jihad Watch, Oct. 22, 2009).

Honor killings are on the rise in the United States.

The first documented case was in November 1989, when Zein Isa, a Palestinian terrorist living in St. Louis, murdered his 16-year-old daughter, Tina, for having a boyfriend, going to a school dance, and applying to work at Wendy’s restaurant. Her mother held her down while her father plunged a 9-inch knife into her chest 13 times, the mother shouting “Shut up!” in response to the girl’s pleas for help (Ellen Harris, Guarding the Secrets: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father’s Murder of His Too-American Daughter, 1995).

In April 2004, Ismail Peltek of Rochester, New York, murdered his wife and fractured the skulls of his daughters because he was “concerned that my family’s honor was taken” (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, April 24, 2004).

In January 2008, teenage sisters Amina and Sarah Said were shot to death in Irving, Texas, by their father, Yaser Abdel Said. Their great aunt, Gail Gartrell, told reporters, “This was an honor killing” (“Honor Killing in Texas,” Human Events, Jan. 8, 2008). The mother says that Yaser killed them because they were dating non-Muslim boys (“Honor Killing Dad Secretly Taped Girls,” Fox News, Aug. 6, 2010). Yaser Said vanished the night of the murders.

In July 2008, Chaudhry Rashid strangled his daughter to death in Jonesboro, Georgia, “to restore the family’s honor” after she wanted to end her arranged marriage.

That same month, in upper state New York, 22-year-old Waheed Mohammad attempted to murder his sister for wearing western clothing. He explained the stabbing by saying that she was “a bad Muslim girl” (“An American Honor Killing,” New York Post, July 23, 2008).

In February 2009, Muzzammil Hassan beheaded his wife, Aasiya, in upstate New York after she filed for divorce. Phyllis Chesler, author of “Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence,” said, “The fierce and gruesome nature of this murder signals it’s an honor killing” (“Beheading Appears to Be Honor Killing, Experts Say,” Fox News, Feb. 17, 2009).

In October 2009, police in Peoria, Arizona, reported that Faleh Hassan Almaleki ran over his daughter because she was becoming too “westernized” (“Police: Strict Iraqi Father Ran Daughter Down,” myfoxphoenix.com, Oct. 22, 2009). Noor, the twenty-year-old woman, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and died a couple of weeks later. It had all of the appearances of an “honor killing.”

Recent honor killings in other Western nations include the following:

In August 2010, a Turkish man beat his 20-year-old daughter, Gulsum Semin, to death with a club in Germany. The assistant in the terrible deed was the girl’s own twin brother (“Honour Killing: Father Beat Daughter in Face with Club,” Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 8, 2010). The young woman had recently had an abortion.

In 2009, Mohammad Shafia was charged with murdering his three teenage daughters (Zainab, Sahari, and Geeti) and his first wife, Rona, in Montreal, Canada. Also charged was Mohammad’s son. The women were found in a car submerged in a canal. Rona’s brother and sister have testified that it was an honor killing (“More on the Canadian Honor Killings,” Atlas Shrugged, July 24, 2009).

In 2008 in Australia, a Muslim man, assisted by his three brothers, shot his daughter to death. They first shot Pela Atroshi twice in the back in an upstairs room. Her mother and sister helped her down the stairs to the lower level, but the men pursued and while the severely wounded girl pled for her life her youngest uncle shot her in the head (“Honor Killing in Australia,” Jihad Watch, April 2008).

In June 2007, a British court found Mahmod Mahmod guilty of murdering his 20-year-old daughter Banaz. She was strangled with a boot lace, stuffed into a suitcase, and buried in a garden. The killing stemmed from her father’s hatred of her Western ways and non-approved boyfriend. An uncle assisted in the murder. Her life had been threatened since her teenage years. Once she ran away from home, but she agreed to come back after her father sent an audio tape warning that he would kill her sisters and mother if she did not return. More than 100 homicides are under investigation as potential honor killings in Britain (“British Court Finds Muslim Father Guilty,” Fox News, June 11, 2007).

Because of an upsurge in Islamic murders in India, the nation’s Home Minister proposed in August 2010 a new law “to provide specific, severe penalties to curb honor killings” (“India Proposes New Law,” Yahoo, Aug. 5, 2010). A study found that as many as 900 honor killings are committed each year in the three northern Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization says, “We’re seeing an increase around the world, due in part to the rise in Islamic fundamentalism.”

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Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians.

WHO IS A NORTHERNER?

In 2006 Rev. Father, Matthew Hassan Kukah delivered a paper to the Northern Senators' Forum. He made some very revealing remarks about the identity of a 'Northerner." In view of the recent PDP zoning debate and the stand of some "Northern" States, I feel that portions of Kukah's speech merit revisiting. Below is an excerpt from that speech.

"... But notwithstanding these claims, and assuming that we concede to these emotions, how shall we know when this power comes to the North? How shall we recognize the Northerner? Is it by the fact that he or she is indigenous to the geographical space that used to be called Northern Nigeria before 1967? Or are there other hidden credentials?

"I make this observation because although we claim that the North is a region (though it ceased to exist in 1967!), we are summoned to respond to the call of the North on the grounds that our unity defies boundaries of geopolitics. But, to my brothers and sisters who are Muslims, I wish to ask a few questions which I need you to think over as opposed to giving me answers. Assuming that power does return to the North, if the new Presidential candidate is called John, Thomas, Sarah or Felix, would you be ready to embrace him or her as a Northerner? I am asking this question because from my personal experience, this North seems to be more concerned with religion and not geography. Two examples will elucidate my case. Let me use very recent examples even though I do know that most of us here will be familiar with many similar stories in times past. When Senator Isaiah Balat was made a Minister in 1999 and the North was crying of marginalization, it was pointed out that Senator Balat was one of the Northerners in the administration. Some Northern politicians said openly that Senator Balat was a Christian not a Northerner! Similarly, in 2005, when I was appointed Secretary of the defunct National Political Reform Conference, NPRC, one of your newspapers mounted a campaign of calumny against my appointment. My credentials were not being questioned. What was being questioned was the fact that in their jaundiced view, I was a Christian and not a Muslim! These so called defenders of the North heaved a sigh of relief when a Muslim from the South was appointed to serve as a Co-Secretary with me. They were prepared to overlook the fact that the President had actually sent them someone from his own state. As long as it was a Muslim, nothing else mattered to these strange Northerners. Are these the Northerners I am supposed to join forces with simply because it has become expedient for their questionable interests?"

PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S RESPONSE

Since President Goodluck Jonathan has a page on Facebook, I decided to acquaint him with the recurring crises in Jos. I demanded for the abrogation of Decree 41 of 1991 through which IBB created Jos-North LGA. The opinions of the Afizere, Anaguta, Berom, Igbo, Yoruba, Urhobo and others, all large communities resident in Jos, were not considered by IBB's AFRC. I was pleasantly surprised when Pres. GEJ replied me. Below is his reply verbatim. However, it is obvious that our President is out of touch with the reality of our problem. Nobody wants to kick another person from any part of Nigeria. But some people have made themselves obnoxious and a pain to other Nigerians. This group has caused trouble in all parts of the country, from Shagamu to Calabar, from Ibadan to Yola, from Sokoto to Jos. I promised Mr. President that I will represent the problem to him using different words. Read on:

"I read your complaints about the Settler/Indigene dichotomy and many of you are calling for a constitutional amendment to solve this issue, however, the truth is that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has already abrogated that dichotomy for the simple reason that it does not recognise any difference between the two sets of people. If there is a difference as some insist, it is only in their minds and we must as Nigerians begin the peaceful processes of rebuilding the foundations of our citizenship. As far as our present Constitution is concerned, ALL Nigerian citizens are indigenes of any part of Nigeria. And our history is replete with a demonstration of this fact. For example the Great Zik of Africa won an election in Ibadan. Malam Umaru Altine was the first elected Mayor of Enugu and Felix Okonkwo (known as Okonkwo 'Kano') was a member of the Northern Nigeria House of chiefs. Since there is precedent for it in the past, we have to remove the glass ceiling in our minds that still believes in the Settler/Indigene dichotomy. Under the Nigerian Constitution, there is absolutely nothing stopping any Nigerian citizen who has taken residency in a state, town or ward from participating in the governance processes of that State, Town or Ward including contesting elections if the individual fulfils the constitutional requirements of residency and tax payment. If Nigerian immigrants can win City Council elections in the U.S, mayoral elections in Ireland and most recently Parliamentary seats in the British House of Commons, it should certainly be possible for a Nigerian with ancestral origins from Sokoto to win an election in Port Harcourt and vice versa. As I said, the Nigerian Constitution permits it, there are precedents for it and the only thing we have to do is to give effect to our constitutional rights which speak to our unity and our collective aspirations for peaceful co-existence and greatness."

AVATAR: A RACIST MOVIE

I wish to share the following with you. It comes from Dr. Ibram Rogers' blog: progressivecorner.wordpress.com

Avatar: Most Racist Movie of All Time

April 27, 2010 by Dr. Ibram H. Rogers

Na'vi purposefully depicted with braids (Source: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk)

After watching Avatar for the first time this past weekend on DVD, I must say that it is the most racist Hollywood movie of all time.

This is not an over-reaction. This is not an over-statement. This is not my passion speaking. The movie that is billing itself as the best of all-time is in fact the best—in terms of racism. Birth of a Nation has nothing on Avatar.

Avatar, like The Blind Side, is a White Savior Flick. And of all of the racist plots that have long dominated Hollywood films, the most racist and treacherous plot is undoubtedly the White Savior Flick. There are two glaring reasons for this. First, these movies do not just echo racism’s central ideological position—that Whites are superior—but it takes another paternalistic step to intimate that since Whites are superior, non-Whites are dependent on Whites for their livelihood. Second, since many of these White Savior Flicks are either based on true stories and/or the White Saviors are depicted as the good guys, the racism goes down pleasantly and easy in our consciousness.

In other words, the best drugs are those that provide a powerful high and are easy to consume. In comparison, to a repulsive film like Birth of a Nation in which the racism is like a shot of heroine, White Savior flicks go down painless, like pills of ecstasy. Since it goes down easy and people walk away happy, more people are willing to watch it, more people are unwilling to challenge and repel the racism.

So if the White Savior Flick is the most racist plot saturating Hollywood films, then Avatar is by far the worst of all the White Savior Flicks. Think about the plot of Avatar in racial terms. A white male is the central character. In comparison to his brother with a Ph.D., he is an outcast of White society. He is the worst of White society. He is at the bottom of the hierarchy in White society and his inability to walk symbolizes this. Do not be fooled about his disability. You must see it in figurative terms as a fundamental part of his character. He is disabled not just physically in White society, but generally. Said differently, he is “disabled Whiteness.”

This “disabled Whiteness” is sent to another planet called “Pandora,” which early in the movie is described as worse than “hell.” Who lives in this hell? The Na’vi reside there, an indigenous species called “natives” by the Whites. Who have been called “natives” by Whites in history? Native Americans, Africans, and Asians when Whites were colonizing those areas to secure natural resources worth tons of money, just as the Whites were colonizing Pandora to secure a valuable resource. Thus earlier on, the connection between the Na’vi and Native Americans and Africans are made. To add to that connection, the Na’vi are configured as these physically superior beings, just as African people have been conceived of in European racist thought. This physical superiority (Blacks are better athletes, dancers, and lovers) is in fact an inferiority though since it demonstrates that Black people are closer in the being chain to animals since animals are considered the most superior physical beings on Earth. In addition, central principles in Native American and African culture are attached to the Na’vi, such as the traditional African religious concept that all things exude a spiritual force and the Native American reciprocal relationship with nature.

In sum, the Na’vi are called what colonized non-Whites have been called, they are visually depicted with locs and braids as these physically imposing beings (as Whites have conceived of Africans for centuries), and they even imbrued them with elements of African and Native American culture.

Now, the central character, which again symbolizes “disabled Whiteness” is charged with learning the ways of the Na’vi. If Na’vi culture is conceptualized on the same level as White culture, then one would think that if someone is an outcast and failure in one, he would be an outcast and failure in the other, unless they provide some character trait that explains how he could lose in one and win in the other. But there was no explanatory character trait. The only primary characteristics we knew about this guy before he tried to learn Na’vi culture was that he was White, disabled, and a soldier.

So “disabled Whiteness” begins to learn the ways of the Na’vi. “Disabled Whiteness” learns the culture of the Na’vi quickly, becoming one of the most “abled” of the group. For a time, there is this constant demonstration and switch of “disabled Whiteness” or “low-quality Whiteness” becoming “high-quality Na’vi.” The racist contrast and message is mind-blowing. At the same time, the main character tries to teach the Na’vi the ways of the White man, but of course that is difficult for them to learn (aside from English). In other words, it is easy for Whites to learn non-White culture, but difficult for non-Whites to learn White culture. That positions White culture, once again, as superior.

Eventually, he mates with the daughter of the chief, who of course wants a piece of superior Whiteness. Later, he “conquers” the most vicious animal on Pandora, and when he lands and approaches the people, many are astonished and begin bowing to the power of Whiteness as if he is a God. The movie ends with “disabled Whiteness” managing to compel the God of the Na’vi to do something that God had never done before. He becomes the spiritual leader too, as the White savior saves the Na’vi from annihilation (A side note: Another racist ideas comes to the fore hear that Whites can only be defeated by the super-natural—non-White people can not defeat Whites with their intelligence without the help of their Gods). In the end, “low-quality Whiteness” becomes the “highest-quality Na’vi” on the planet. The incredible and audacious performance of White superiority in this film has no equal in Hollywood history.

Let’s think about this racist performance and message for a second. Since it is the middle of the NBA playoffs, I want to use a basketball analogy. There are two basketball teams: the Blacks and the Whites. On the Whites, there is a guy who is considered the worst player on the team. So he leaves the Whites and decides to join the Blacks. If he rapidly becomes the best player on the Blacks, then what does that say about Whites? What does that say about the Blacks? That the White team is so far superior than the Black team that the worst White player will become the best player on the Black team—or to put it in racial terms, as a college friend once told me, the worst White person in the world still thinks he or she is better than the best Black person in the world.

That situation, which is the basis of the plot in Avatar, is the pinnacle—it is the most tyrannical idea in the ideology of racism. It says that not only is the White race superior to all the other races. But the worst White person is far superior to the best people of all the other races. The trash of White society is the treasure of Black society. Only in a thoroughly racist country is the plot of Avatar even believable.

Avatar is the most racist movie of all-time.

DR. IBRAM ROGERS - 27 YEAR-OLD PROFESSOR

Dr. Rogers kindly permitted me to reproduce his article in this blog.

progressivecorner.wordpress.com

Five Hundred Nigerians Massacred Over a Political, Not Religious Divide

March 10, 2010 by Dr. Ibram H. Rogers

Dr. Rogers can be reached at ibramrogers@aol.com.

Mass burial in Nigeria (Source: latimes.com) (picture missing)

When I heard that almost five hundred Nigerians were massacred over the weekend in Jos, Northern Nigeria, my heart dropped in silence. For over three hours Sunday morning, hundreds of Nigerians were hacked to death with machetes in their homes. Those that were able to flee were caught in large animal traps, and murdered.

After it took me a while to re-center myself emotionally, the next line of thought was WHY? Why did this happen? Why? Why did five hundred people get massacred like this? Why?

Most of the American news stories did not answer this question, as they rarely do. They briefly presented the notion of religious strife, saying Christians were massacred by Muslims. But to me, that is not saying anything. That does not provide any answers. For most Americans, who have this idea that Muslims are barbarous, ruthless, natural killers, who murder to murder, and hate just to hate, that explanation provided an answer. But to me, who see Muslims as people, I still did not learn the reason behind such a massive tragedy.

So as usual, I had to leave the American media, and start searching in obscure places for answers. From reading a variety of foreign sources, I realized the massacre seemed more about power politics than religious tension. In human history, merely religious tension has rarely if ever caused massacres of this magnitude. I knew something else was up.

I came to realize that Nigeria’s former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida created in 1991 the Jos North local government bringing together this rival under one political banner and he ultimately empowered the Hausa Fulani, who actually requested the government be created.

As Nigerian columnist Charles Kumolu wrote, “It all began with the creation of Jos North Local Government Area through States Creation and Transition Provision Decree No 2 of 1991. Unknown to those who conceived the idea and gave concrete expression to it, it has now become synonymous with the recurring decimal now known as the Jos crisis with high toll in human lives and property. In the process, the bond of brotherhood that used to exist appears to be permanently broken.”

In effect, it appears that this local political structure brought together rival ethno-religious groups under its jurisdiction. One group, the Muslim Hausa Fulani, was empowered by the federal government to rule in the early 1990s, and ever since they have sought to assert their power over the other Christian groups in the local government.

The governor of the state where these atrocities occurred set up a commission last year, which investigated the tensions that previously have resulted in deaths of lesser numbers. The commission recommended in a 339-page report that the present Jos North Local Government be sliced into three local governments with the state government giving “due consideration to all ethnic groupings in appointments, nominations and promotions with the state.” It made a series of other recommendations to eliminate the power struggle. None were instituted.

Therefore, the blood and the stench from the corpses are on the hands of state officials who through instituting some of the recommendations of the commission could have prevented this massacre. But even more blood has stained the hands of former president Babangida, who snatched these religious rivals from separate political rooms, threw them into one room, handed the Muslims machetes, and closed the doors.

Violence has reigned ever since in that room. And it may continue. This may not be the last massacre we hear about until the door is opened and they are allowed to reside and operate in their own political rooms like they did pre-1991 when this area of Nigeria was a beacon of peace.

MINORITIES RIGHTS ADVOCACY GROUP EMERGIES IN NIGERIA

The CONGRESS FOR EQUALITY AND CHANGE (CEC), a group comprising of all the perceived minorities of Nigeria was formally inaugurated in Abuja on Thursday August 05, 2010. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of CEC is no other than the untiring octogenerian, Chief Edwin Clark, an Ijaw man from Delta State. I must say, this is the best thing that has happened to the political landscape of our country since Lord Lugard's 1914 amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates that created the entity alled Nigeria. The Hausa/Fulani nation, Yoruba nationa dn Igbo nation have dominated the rulership of the country to their favour and to the detriment of the remaining 250 smaller tribes.

For the first time, the minority tribes in all States and Christians in some northern States have created a forum to express their hitherto oppressed opinions and to demand for their rights as citizens on Nigeria to rulership. I congratulate the pioneers of the movement and wish them God's blessings.

They should please remember the case of Jos North LGA. In 1991 IBB's administration surreptitiously and secretly curved out a Hausa/Fulani settlement in Afizere/Anaguta/Berom land in the old Jos LGA and gave it to these settlers as an LGA called Jos North. This has resulted in over ten thousand deaths since then and the loss of billions of Naira worth of property. The injustice done the owners of the land needs to be reversed for their to be peace on the Plateau.

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.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JONATHAN

I congratulate Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on his ascension to the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Bible teaches us that there is no one in authority who has not been permitted by God. It has therefore pleased God to make Jonathan our 14th President which event took place on 6 May 2010. I wish him a successful and peaceful reign.

I have one urgent request to make of President Jonathan immediately. Kindly set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into and advice you on the recurring crises in Plateau State. Several State Government Judicial Commissions of Inquiry have investigated and made recommendations, but no solution seems in sight after thousand of human deaths and loss of billions of Naira.

I plead with you to please give the Plateau crisis priority. Thank you.

TRIBUTE TO YARADUA

As a patriotic Nigerian I must pay my respects to the our last President, Umaru Yar'adua, who passed on to the great beyond on Wednesday, 5th May 2010.

He was an honest man who always called a spade a spade. He did not amass wealth for himself and even publicly declared his assets. His regime made the doctrine of the 'rule of law' popular. He was a gentleman per excellence. We will surely miss him. I wish to use this medium to condole his wife, children, immediate family and all Nigerians.

We should have faith in God Almighty. He who gave us a good leader like Yar'adua is well able to give us another good leader.

REPLY TO TIMMAUS MATTHIAS

RE: FOR THIS TO BE THE LAST COMMUNAL CRISIS
Your article of Wednesday, February 03, 2010 in the Nation Newspaper on the above subject matter refers. Your write-up was informative and appeared to have been written in good faith. However, your penultimate sentence did you a great disservice, in my opinion. You said, “The truth is that the so-called Jessawa are bona fide Plateau citizens with rights to aspire to all political offices.”

You are quite right in saying that it is every bona fide Nigerian citizen's inalienable right to move and settle in any part of the country he or she wishes. However, I would like you to realize that there is a rider to that provision which you quoted elsewhere in your article. That rider is to the effect that that right may be enjoyed only if mobile citizens respect their host communities and also abide by the laws of Nigeria.

In Jos North Local Government Area, respect of the host communities means respecting the traditions and cultures of the Beroms, Anagutas and Afizeres. These nationalities are predominantly Christians while Hausa-Fulanis are mainly Muslims. They also have traditional administrative structures and traditional rulers. By demanding for the removal of the Gbong Gwom Jos and the creation of an emirate council, renaming themselves Jasawas, blocking city centre streets during Friday prayers, siting mosques in predominantly Christian areas, demanding for a district to be curved out of Du District purely for the Hausa-Fulani settlers, quarrelling with the Jos North Local Government Council authorities for relocating the headquarters of the Council in 2009, demanding for the post of Deputy Governor of Plateau State as of right, claiming that the land they bought to built residential houses on illegally is their ancestral possession, imagining that no one owned the land when they arrived Jos around 1930, the Hausa-Fulanis have shown that they do not have an iota of respect for their hosts.

Please note that the Igbos, Urhobos and Yorubas came to Jos along with British tin mining prospectors before the Hausa-Fulanis. Descendants of these people are still here and are very law-abiding. They have never demanded for anything special. They contest for seats in general elections. Many of them are also Muslims. Street names in Jos like Vandapuye, Akpata, Olayiwola and Otunkon bear testimony to this fact.

Recently, one of the settlers tabled a request before the Federal Government’s Abisoye Panel currently sitting at NIPSS Kuru, to the effect that they should be donated the position of Deputy Governor of Plateau State since they have been here for so long. But the Ogbomoshos and Urhobos have been here longer than the Hausa-Fulanis. Do the Hausa-Faulanis have more rights in Nigeria than all other nationalities or what?

I would like you to realize that no tribe in this country has ever demanded for political positions to be allocated to them as of right. Every body contests for these positions in elections. They have also demanded for things like 5 Commissioner positions, LG Council seats, State scholarship for higher education, dual-State citizenship, etc.

I am very sure that the Igbos who have been in Kano for over 50 years still do not and will never qualify for Local Government Chairmanship till. I also believe that a Yoruba man has zero probability of ever becoming a Deputy Governor in Sokoto State. An Ibibio hasn’t the minutest chance of becoming the El-Kanemi of Bornu no matter the longevity of his sojourn in Borno State. I therefore wonder why you are of the opinion that the Hausa-Fulanis of Jos should be treated differently.

Inordinate ambitions, disrespectful demands, feelings of superior ancestry and the like can only annoy others and lead to the sort of crises this country has witnessed in Tafawa Balewa, Ife, Zangon Kataf, Jos, etc. No one has ever successfully taken over the God-given geographical demarcations of any ethnic group in history. Attempts of this have resulted in some of the longest hostilities around the globe. It is the recipe for genocide, ethnic cleansing, and segregations of all sorts.

The Hausa-Fulanis who have settled in Jos will never, never succeed in foisting themselves as rulers over the Beroms, Anagutas and Afizeres. There will be unending crises in Jos North Local Government as long as they do not drop their wicked ambition. Please tell them to save Nigeria the waste of material and human resources.

The solution to the Jos crisis? Abolish the Jos North LG and revert to the old Jos LGA. Alternatively, adjust the southern boundaries of the Jos North to take in parts of Jos South LG so that they Hausa/Fulani tribe never becomes the largest single tribe in Jos North anymore. Ibrahim Babangida’s administration created the present Jos North LG in 1991 without consulting the indigenous tribes and they curved it in such a way as to ensure that the Hausa/Fulanis were almost exclusively the only ones in it. The creation of the Jos North LG was insincere, criminal and intended to give the settler Hausa/Fulanis undue advantage. It amounted to planting a time bomb which exploded within 3 years in 1994 and the fires and deaths have not abated since. Someone should please to help the feuding in Jos.

JTF MESS IN JOS

On April 22, 2010, THISDAY reported as follows, "The military Special Task Force (STF) in Jos has described as horrible, barbaric, unfortunate and condemnable, the killing of innocent travelers in Tahoss village, Riyom Local Government Area, along Abuja/Jos highway by suspected hoodlums, after all its effort to restore peace in the area. It has also condemned the incessant attack on some military men, warning the youths not to take the military’s restrain for granted.

"Addressing the press in Jos, the Operation Commander of the STF, Colonel Kayode Ogundele, said while investigations are still on to unravel the perpetrators of the barbaric act, four persons are already in their net in connection with the killings. He said “on Monday four corpses were discovered in a village near Rim, the bodies were partially burnt, and the locals were agitated. More troops were deployed to the area to trace the assailants. And in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the reinforcement decided to comb the entire area of the village. While they were on this, some irate mobs occupied the Abuja/Jos highway to unleash terror on commuters, and in the process seven people were killed and buried in three shallow graves: four corpses were found in one shallow grave, two in another shallow grave, another corpse which they were about burying when we got there”.

The above-quoted report says that four corpses were discovered near Rim partially burnt. We now know that the Fulanis kill and burn their victims. Why burn corpses is hard to understand. A COCIN pastor and his wife were murdered and burnt in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi State, last week by suspected Fulanis on a revenge mission. Most of the slaughtered women and children at Dogo Nahawa on January 17, were also burnt. (See the pictures if you care)

What angered the youths in Tahoss, if I may ask? Did they just wake up that morning and decided for to start killing innocent people along the Jos/Abuja highway without provocation? Of course, not. Some assailants killed four of their brothers overnight and the JTF operatives were nowhere to be found. The Rim/Tahoss axis is now so vulnerable to Fulani attacks that the villagers have lost all confidence in the JTF. It is actually suspected that JTF men could be responsible for some of the killings while the innocent Beroms observe Jang's curfew hours.

Consider the following: Unknown assassins attacked the residences of Timothy Pwajok, his brother, Markus Pwajok, a former Commissioner and the father of the Jos South LG Chairman, Da Dalyop Zi at Kuru Karama at 1:30am two Sundays ago. While the attack was going on, 5 JTF operatives, made of 4 Muslims and 1 Christian, were just 100 meters away and did nothing to stop the attackers till they fled into the bushes. Also, the only Christian JTF personnel had lost his riffle by the time time the attack ended. The rumour is that the JTF personnel disarmed their Christian colleague as he wanted to shoot at the attackers.

in another incident last Sunday, the JTF personnel claimed they were alerted by Muslims in Bisichi in the dead of the night that there were suspected attackers in the nearby bushes. The JTF personnel killed two Berom men only to discover that they were security men at a their duty post. Beroms in Bisichi were enraged but controlled themselves.

Again, about a week ago, a 19 year old Muslim youth. Abdullssamad Mohammad detonated what was most likely a German made grenade in his hands and had both arms from the wrists blown off. While he was receiving treatment at the Plateau Specialist Hospital, JTF personnel arrived the hospital with a letter addressed to the hospital authorities permitting them to convey the houng victim to Abuja for further treatment. Of course, the Medical Director objected in writing saying the boy's condition was too unstable for such a long journey.

Who is doing the killings in Jos now? who is trying to suppress facts now? Who is angering the Beroms now? Are the Beroms really being protected by the JTF anymore? No wonder, they have asked for the withdrawal of the JTF and the removal of the curfew imposed by Jang so that they can better protect themselves on their own. Newspapers must learn to report objectively and not just carry whatever Government officials dish out.

We understand that the Fulani women and children have now been safely cordoned off near Military barracks and are protected with armored tanks while their men attack Beroms nightly from different fronts with the tacit connivance of the Nigerian military.

It is obvious that a solution to the Jos crisis is still far away in view of recent happenings and the taking of sides by some military personnel.

ALHAJI SALEH BAYERI AGAIN

Alhaji Saleh Bayeri, leader of the Miyetti Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, claimed on live television about a week ago tht himself and others ("we" he said) masterminded the Jan. 17, 2010 Dogo Na-Hauwa wicked massacres of innocent women and children. Yet AP Jonathan has just included him on the Lar Committee investigating the crisis. Gov. Jang of Plateau State called for the arrest of Bayeri by the Police. Who is advising the Acting president on these issues? Nigeria should get serious and tow the path of sanity or it will continue to sink.

In my opinion, and I share this with Gen. Saleh maina, GOC. 3rd Armoured Div. Nigerian Army, no one in Government has addressed the real issues of contention in Jos yet. The members of the Lar Committee cannot achieve much. Their suggestion of dialogues between Jang and his neighbouring Governors and the Sultan of Sokoto make the crisis to look like some border clash and some minor religious misunderstanding. That a big joke.

The problem of Jos versus the Hausa/Fulani goes back 2oo years during the Dan Fodio jihads. The error of Lord Lugard in the days of Indirect Rule have a part to play. MNorthern Nigerian minories were sidelined by the Lord. The insistance of the descendants of the jihadists to subtly carry on the territorial expansion has to blame today. The Beroms are only defending their rights to inherited land just like the South-South militants. Self determination is a basic human right, but not to the neo-jihadists of Jos.

The Hausa/Fulanis should take a leaf from the Ogbomoshos, Igbos, Urhobos, Ijaws, Kanuris, Effiks and many other ethnic nationalities settled in Jos who have lived there in peace longer than them. The present Oba of Agbomosho, Chief Oyewumi, is the owner of the most prestigious structures at Terminus roundabout in Jos. Almost all the taxi drivers today at Hill Station Hotel are Jos-born Yorubas. Why don't they have a problem except the Hausa/Fulanis? The Hausa/Fulani also do not integrate into their host communities. Check Sagamu in OgunState, Idi Araba in Lagos State and the EPZ in Cross River State. The Hausas should say openly what they want when they settle on other people's soil.

Whose FRSC car number plate has the slogan, "BORN TO RULE"? Meaning what? FRSC and Nigerians, answer me!

The Hausas/Fulanis and the Beroms will live in peace as brothers and sisters again, I prophesy. Amen.

MOSOPP

The promoters of Movement for the Survival of Plateau People (MOSOPP) should please publish their office address, membership recruitment procedures and activities more. I can confidently assure you that there are many of us itching to join your (our) Movement. Please hurry. Get in touch with me via my email. 

Those who would like to be members should may send their names and email addresses to me for free onward transmission to MOSOPP headquarers. 

THAT SALE BAYERI PRESS CONFERENCE

Newspaper reports have it that one Sale Bayeri, a self-styled leader of the Plateau Fulanis, openly confessed at a press conference in Abuja to being party to the March 7th Dobon Na-Hauwa killings. I sincerely hope the Police have taken him in for questioning. If not, then the end of the Jos crisis is not yet in sight. 

Sale Bayeri also claimed during that press conference to being a descendant of Fulanis who have been residing in Plateau State for so long that he cannot trace which or when his forefathers first settled there. He, therefore, claims to be a Plateau State indigene. I want Bayeri to define an indigene by the Constitution of Nigeria and he will find that he does not qualify to be an indigene of Plateau State. He is, rather, a Nigerian citizen who was born and has settled in another part of the country other than his indigenous home. By the Nigerian Constitution, birth and length of stay in another part of Nigeria do not automatically confer indigeneship status.  

Bayeri's position now is that some of his privileges as a Nigerian citizen are inexerciseable. Such privileges can only be exercised when he returns to his indigenous home. Privileges such title to land by inheritance (his forefathers grazing land in Jos was bought), Federal appointments to represent  his home State, etc. Meanwhile, I sincerely hope he is cooling his heals in a Police cell.

FRESH ATTACK IN JOS

Yesterday, Sunday 7th march, 2010, we woke up to the news of yet another attack by Hausa/Fulani settlers on Dogo Na-Hawa village in the outskirt of Forum, Barakin Ladi LGA. Visitors to the scene of the massacre said grenades and heavy artillery were used leaving about 2oo persons dead. The State Governor was on hand by afternoon to supervise the mass burial of brutally murdered men, women ad even a 4 day old baby. The State Police Commissioner confirmed that some arrests have been made of likely culprits.

The perpetrators claim they are indigenous or would like to be considered indigenous to these areas. Do people normally go around vandalizing their own ancestral homes? Who is fighting a war of genocide and against who is the war? Would any right thinking person believe their story any more?
We are waiting for the reaction of settlers like Hon. Samaila Mohammed who has just proposed a bill on the floor of the House of Reps to the effect that all those born in Jos before 1960 should be considered indigenous stock of Plateau State.

By his submission, Hon. Samaila admitted that he is NOT currently indigenous to the constituency he represents in the House. How could he represent me fairly when he hates me by all his actions and utterances? Its only from Plateau State that such nonsense occurs. This nonsense was created deliberately by IBB's presidential fiat as his contribution to the the Hausa North's war of emasculation against all minority groups (tribal and religious) in the nineteen northern States of Nigeria.

Plateau State indigenous peoples and the Federal Government should quickly come and solve this problem by reversing President Ibrahim Babagida's so-called Jos North and Jos South LGAs. The indigenous peoples of these two LGAs never asked for their creation. The Hausa/Fulani settlers must have. Our request was for Jos East and Jos West LGAs with a boundary between them running along Bauchi Road from our border with Bauchi State down to the boundary of B/Ladi LGA. The old Jos LGA should be reverted to until the communities in it jointly append their signatures to the boundaries of the new LGAs they would like to have.