PORT HARCOURT — REGGAE artist, Vincent Kaweng Nyam, aka Jah Device, says only divine intervention can end armed killings in Plateau State, attributing the violence to fulfillment of biblical prophecy against a people who have abandoned God.

Speaking at the 45th Bob Marley remembrance event in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, the Jos-born musician said attacks by herders on Berom communities are not random but “what God said He would send” as punishment for wickedness and disunity.

“We are under attack; under siege right now. Killings, kidnappings, maiming, total evacuation of a whole town by herders, by northern armies. And to be specific, a particular tribe, Fulani, has been spearheading these atrocities”, Jah Device explained.

The 20-year veteran in the Nigerian reggae scene linked the violence to passages in Jeremiah chapters 5 and 6 and Joel 2:12-20, analysing that because “our people are wicked towards Him and towards our very selves,” God would punish the land, then destroy the killers when the purpose is served.

He added, “He (God) said if we do what He says, this is how He will finish the whole war. It will be quick. The northern army will group themselves and leave. Next, while they are going, He will deal with them because they have done great things.

“Their cattle, their families will die in transit out of our land. It will be quick. Which one do we choose? For God to do it Himself, or for us to go out and war with them and go and die?”

Jah Device, who studied Accounting and Finance at Plateau State Polytechnic, broke into the international reggae circuit after UK-based promoter Ziggy Dub heard his music through Silverbird’s Sinclair Kumboye and connected him to Stingray Records in the UK.

His 2018 EP led to a planned world tour, but COVID-19 halted it in Panama after shows in Jamaica and Brazil, forcing his returned to Nigeria in 2020 for a domestic tour covering Abuja, Bauchi, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Jos, his homeland.

“I find myself truly fortunate to have my people in Jos loving me the way they do and actually promoting the music even in the face of adversity. They might not be financially there to push the project, but they show you love with their presence.

“I cannot sing anything else than what I am singing right now. That is why people say it appears when I sing, that I sing with tears. Somebody who vividly is recalling these things and wants to express it in song cannot be a happy man” he said.

He cited the attack in Barkin Ladi involving “a newlywed couple, I’m sure the woman is pregnant. They killed the two of them in the attack that happened recently”

He said such incidents are why he sings in his Berom dialect: “Oh Father, if we have failed and we realize it, do not turn your back on us.”

To perceived safer Southern Nigerian communities, he cautioned, “Guard what you have; guard it with love and return to God. That’s the command: Love each other and love God. That’s all, and God will take care of you.”