By Taye Obateru

The protracted crisis in Plateau State which has spanned over a decade and which so far has defied every measure taken, reached a head, on Sunday, as the nation lost a serving senator in the person of Dr. Gyang Dantong and the Majority Leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr. Gyang Fulani, who was representing Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area in the House. They, along with over a hundred others, died as a result of a coordinated attack by suspected Fulani herdsmen on villages in Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas.

Dare devil gunmen, said to have numbered well over 100, were said to have raided over 12 villages, penultimate Saturday, killing people and torching houses. By the time the assailants, reportedly dressed in military camouflages and bullet prove vests, were done, close to 40 people lay dead. Unknown to many, about 50 women, children and the aged who had run into a church at Maseh village on hearing of the attacks, were set ablaze inside the church to roast to death.

As leaders of the people, Dantong, who represented the area in the Senate, Representative Simon Mwadkon (Barkin-Ladi/Riyom) and Gyang Fulani, had, along with others, gone to Maseh where the victims of the attacks were being given a mass burial.

They were apparently there to demonstrate their concern for the plight of their people which they had expressed severally even in their respective legislatures. Except for Mwadkon, who is alive by some divine intervention since he also fainted but was later revived, the other two paid the supreme price in what some have described as “service of their people.”

Probably because of the two prominent people who died, the latest attacks appear to be attracting more attention than previous ones. Some have observed that if a serving senator could die in such a circumstance, it is clear that there is no security for the ordinary man. To some others, the death of the two legislators is a metaphor on the state of security in the country. Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State described it as a national shame when he led a delegation on condolence visit to Plateau State last week.

According to him, “This incident is of course a shame to the entire nation that a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic and a member of the House could die in an incident such as this. This is unfortunate and this must attract the concern of all well-meaning Nigerians. I believe also, as leaders, we should not stand by and watch this drift into an irreversible crisis in this country.” He, like many other Nigerians, wondered how a large number of people would move round with arms to unleash such terror without being detected and challenged.

Gyang Fulani,and Senator Gyang Dantong

“The only way we can give the Nigerian people a sense of security is that we get the people who have carried out this act. Otherwise I don’t think that people would be able to maintain some sense of security themselves and even confidence in us. We need to give people confidence, we swore to the constitution to protect lives and property. It has been happening and we the present leaders believe that it is your problem, it is Plateau problem. But it is not a Plateau problem, it is our problem and we must join you in finding solution to it. The general insecurity in the north has become a source of concern to all of us and as leaders of Northern stock. We have to, more than any other persons, find a solution to it”, Suswam said.

A civil rights group, the Christian Foundation for Social Justice and Equity, expressed similar concerns about the seeming helplessness of security agencies to end the activities of the marauders who appear to be having a field day in the two local government areas. In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Joseph Sangosanya, the group said the state of emergency declared in the local government areas had been fruitless.

“We found these unfortunate outrageous killings embarrassing. The fact was that Kakuruk and over eight other neighbouring villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas were attacked by unknown gunmen on Saturday and simple intelligent calculation will dictate that the two local councils will witness security beef up immediately after the attacks to protect remaining villagers from further foreseeable attacks.

“We can authoritatively state that intelligence failure on the part of the Special Task Force in the state was solely responsible for the death of the two legislators and over sixty people that were killed on Sunday. We also want to affirm that security agencies failed to comb the two LGAs and that gave the attackers ample opportunities to mobilize and carry out the deadly Sunday attack. We also view these attacks as attempted ethnic cleansing with over 120 people mostly women and children killed in the villages in less than a week” the statement said.

To some other Nigerians the failure of the Federal Government to be decisive about the problem resulted in the latest situation. To them, if the Federal Government had done what ought to be done, the attackers would not have had the effrontery to continue their raids. Others have even accused some members of the security agencies of complicity in the attacks. At an emergency sitting in honour of their majority leader, the Plateau State House of Assembly expressed regret that the killings had gone on unchecked for years leading to the death of their member.

The Deputy Speaker Mr. Johnbull Shekarau who presided at the sitting summed up the feelings of members saying, “The violence in the state and in the country is getting to its climax. Is the Federal Government just there to supervise the killing of its citizens every day? We have resolved as a House that Mr. President owes us explanation and he should come out and tell Nigerians what is going on. We have also resolved that this House is demanding for a state police because it is obvious the federal police have failed woefully. We are also demanding immediate withdrawal of soldiers from the streets of Plateau and return the responsibility of securing citizens to the governor of the state who is the chief security officer of the state.”

On its part the Plateau Traditional Council viewed the situation as a declaration of war on the state which now makes people to live in fear and feel insecure in their homes. Chairman of the Council, the Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Gyang Buba, when he led other traditional rulers on a condolence visit to Jang over the recent killings, wondered why it was difficult for security agencies to arrest any of the attackers.

The Gbong Gwom called for serious action to save the situation and avoid he prediction of a break-up of the country from coming to pass adding, “those who desire the unity of this country must ensure that we sit down and discuss what these issues are in sincerity and iron them out accordingly because we cannot continue to pretend that all is well with this country. All is definitely not well. We know that there are people who wish this country are apart but we must not through our actions or inactions, allow for such prophets of doom to have their way. It will not augur well.”

Governor Jang concurred, noting that the dimension the problem was assuming had taken the matter beyond people quarrelling among themselves as it has always been, to outright invasion. According to him, “from the attacks of last weekend, we see people coming in various military and police uniforms with bullet proof vests on them with heavy armour. We have never had this kind of strength of armour from these attacks like the one we had over the weekend. It is therefore clear to us that it is not just the ordinary Fulanis that have been careless of their cows eating the farmers’ farm produce. These are people who have invaded us and they have entrenched themselves in some parts of the state. So they are virtually occupying our land on the Plateau.”

Notwithstanding the divergent views on the situation, it is obvious that it has become a hydra-headed problem which needs drastic action to solve. One can only hope that like Senate President David Mark said, the latest killings would signal the beginning of sincere efforts to end the crisis in Plateau State. As he said during a condolence visit to the state, “The deaths of Dantong and Fulani are unfortunate and regrettable and we only hope that with their death, the crisis in the state has reached its peak and must end. I have always said that we can resolve these crises through dialogue and I hope that those concerned will now embrace dialogue so that we can achieve lasting peace”.