Nobody in Nigeria doesn’t know that there is fire on the Plateau. And there has always been in the past years.
But recently, the fire took a different dimension as the blood flows and bloodbath got worse with every passing day.
Some years ago in the days of Governor Joshua Dariye in Plateau State, the incessant killings got so bad that a state of Emergency was declared by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Dariye lost his position to the bloodhounds to the benefit of a retired Army officer, General Chris Alli who was appointed sole administrator.
But since Dariye left office to give way to David Jonah Jang, the matter has not been different as the killings intensified especially since the end of last year.
From Saturday Sun investigations there were12 bloody attacks in Plateau between December 2010 and last month. Within these 39 days, between December 21 and January 30, there have been 218 deaths. Among this number are 40 persons the Igbo community said are their kin that have not been found or their bodies seen.
The blood fair sparked off in its worst dimension on December 21 with an attack in Jos South allegedly by Fulani herdsmen that took the lives of three persons. It was followed closely on the Christmas Eve with a bomb blast that killed 32 persons.
Just after another three days, about 80 persons were reported dead in an another
bloody clash. The following day, soldiers reportedly killed one person at Jenta Adamu.
These were just warnings to the major violent fiesta as early into the New Year on January 8, there came another strike that cut down 12 persons in Jos. It was during this attack that the Igbo Community in the city declared that 40 of their kinsmen could not be found dead or alive. In fact, they were emphatic that they were killed, but their bodies were not found. The authorities could however not confirm the position.
But that was a follow-up to an earlier blood spilling the previous day where eight died in Barkin Ladi. There was another onslaught on January 10 in Bukuru where seven were hacked down by the murderers. There was no respite as the following day witnessed another mayhem in Riyom with a casualty index of 18.
The rampaging killers gave a breather for six days and staged a comeback on January 17 where two were killed at a voters’ registration centre.
Ten days were so much relief to the people who live in the terror zone before the bloody men returned to the killing fields on January 27 and massacred 12 again in Barkin Ladi. Two days after, another killing was witnessed with two victims and the last so far came in January with one death.
With the development where the killings have become a daily occurrence, fears keep mounting among residents on the next victim would be as there seem to be no let up in the siege on Jos.
Residents lament that the presence of military operative sent to restore the peace has not provided any mitigation. In fact, allegations have been mounting on the military men to be withdrawn as voiced out by mothers in Jos this week during a demonstration.
When the mothers clad in black stormed the government house, they brought their allegation pointblank to the governor, Gen. Jang that their children are being massacred by soldiers who compound the crises.
They also called on the government to withdraw the soldiers, as they would fare better without them.
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