By Ikeddy Isiguzo

SENATOR Gyang Dalyop Dantong may just become the most famous politician from Plateau State, not for reasons many easily think.  His new status has a lot to do with how he died, but more to do with his roots, which are firmly found in his Berom kindred.

Nobody has borne the tragedies of Jos, particularly in the past three years, more than he did. As the killings continued, he became a fixed feature at burials. His spare time, moments his colleagues spent in the safety of their Abuja homes, went into consoling the families of the dead. The next visit, most times, was to bury some he had consoled earlier. The cycle continued as more people were killed.

His roots were deeper. The bonding was from birth to death in some cases. Dantong, 55, a University of Jos trained medical doctor  had a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Legon, Ghana. He remained close to his people. In his close-knit Berom setting where life revolved on farming, church and socials, he knew many. At the Vom Christian Hospital, he was medical director, delivering some who became victims of the wanton killings in Jos. Others were his patients or parents of patients.

Senator Dantong Gyang killed by Fulani Herdsmen in Jos

At some funerals, he buried people he delivered. At others, he buried patients, who the hospital kept alive, not knowing some marauders would provide death where illnesses failed.

Dantong was a man of peace, who was able to keep his voice even when discussing the imposed tragedies of his people. Days before his death, he was at another funeral for Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Sharubutu Ward of Bachit District of Riyom Local Government Area, John Baren, his wife and child. Fulani herdsmen killed them.

The speech he made then was an appeal to the Special Task Force, STF, to listen to the people if they wanted to track down the killers. The people, Dantong told STF, said the attackers came from the hills and were stocking arms for more attacks. Dantong urged STF to go after them in the hills. He never had another chance, though he said enough for action to have commenced.

Repeatedly, the Federal Government responded to the killings with the trite charge to security agencies to find the killers. Will finding the  killers stop the violence? Will government have the guts to put them on trial? Peace in the Plateau and elsewhere in crises, will depend on pre-emptive actions governments take. We do not have to wait for a Dantong to die before going after those making Jos inhabitable.

It is evident that they have capacity to continue the killings. The STF complain about the sophistication of the herdsmen’s weaponry. It may be important to add that the type of training required to take out two targets in a crowd is uncommon. If we are to believe the  Defence Headquarters that only Dantong and Majority Leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Gyang Fulani died in last Sunday’s raid, we should worry more.

Herdsmen with marksmanship that can pick two targets in a crowd and wound a third require superior force that is hopefully available to the STF.

More pressing questions: Who supports these herdsmen? Who gives them sophisticated weapons, uniforms, bullet-proof vests?  Who trains them? Why do the STF take hours to respond to distress calls? In this case, it took five hours though  the Barkin-Ladi Local Government chairman called the STF and they promised they were on their way. Why do they always arrive after the attackers are gone?

Dantong was member, House of Representatives (2003-2007),  Senator for Plateau North Senatorial District (2007-2011) and re-elected in 2011. He was Chairman, Senate Committee on Health and member of Senate Committees on Aviation, Solid Minerals and Millennium Development Goals.

If death was meant to silence him, Dantong defeated death. His billboards on the streets of Jos still stare at people as they move around as if asking, “Will I die in vain?” What are you doing about restoring peace in Jos? How many more will die? These questions are more important than Dantong though the search for answers to them claimed his life.

Isiguzo is Chairman,  Vanguard Editorial Board