RSG Evacuates Indigenes From Jos …VP Insists Culprits Must Be Punished

As a result of the current crisis in Jos, capital of Plateau State, the Rivers State government says it has commenced evacuation of its citizens from the area.

In a statement, the State Information and Communications Commissioner, Mrs. Ibim Semeniari said that so far about 250 indigenes of the State have been moved back to the State.

According to the statement, those evacuated comprised mainly students, Youth Corpers of Rivers State origin and others who may want to come home as a result of the killings in Jos.

The release which said that the Rivers Sate government is prepared to evacuate as many Rivers people as would indicate interest to return home with their families as a result of the crisis, described the situation in Jos as unfortunate as it has once again brought untold hardship to not only indigenes of Plateau State, but indeed the entire country.

It however reiterated the determination of the Amaechi-led administration to protect the lives and property of its citizens anywhere in the country and internationally no matter the cost, provided such citizens live and do their business within the confines of the law wherever they are domiciled.

Charred bodies with scorched hands reaching skyward lay in the streets and a mosque with blackened minarets smoldered Wednesday after several days of fighting between Christians and Muslims killed more than 200 people, according to reports..

There are conflicting accounts about what unleashed the bloodshed. According to the state police commissioner, skirmishes began after Muslim youths set a Christian church ablaze, but Muslim leaders denied that. Other community leaders say it began with an argument over the rebuilding of a Muslim home in a predominantly Christian neighborhood that had been destroyed in November 2008.

Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said what caused the latest spark was beside the point. The deeper problem, she said, is the government’s failure to address underlying conflict in the region.

After similar bouts of violence in the past, Nigerian authorities have “come up with analysis, but they don’t respond properly with concrete measures and policies,” Dufka said.

More than 13,500 Nigerians have died in sectarian violence in the last decade, and at least 2,500 people had been killed in Plateau state alone since 2001, according to Human Rights Watch. Dufka said no one has been held accountable, leading to a climate of impunity.

“It’s not just the perpetrators who often murdered people in horrific ways who have not been held accountable, but also the political leaders and sometimes the religious leaders that foment violence, as well as the security forces who’ve used excessive force to respond to it.”

Authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew, but on Wednesday people could been seen walking around the center of the city. When an army convoy passed, they stopped and raised their hands above their heads to show they were not a threat.

“We want the government to come and help us,” said Abdullahi Ushman, who said he had seen rioters attacking people with firearms and bows and arrows.

Plateau State governor Jonah Jang said the violence was not provoked by a lack of opportunity in this rural farming community. He claimed many of the attackers were from Muslim-dominant northern Nigeria and from the nearby, predominantly Muslim nations of Niger and Chad.

“There are people masterminding this for their own selfish reasons,” said Jang, who is Christian.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, issued a statement Tuesday blaming the violence on “some highly placed individuals in the society who were exploiting the ignorance and poverty of the people to cause mayhem in the name of religion.”

The chief of Army staff, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, confirmed accounts that some residents had been dragged out of their homes and shot by men dressed in what appeared to be army uniforms.

However, following the deployment of troops to quell the religious crisis in Jos, Plateau State, the federal government has warned trouble makes and those responsible for the mayhem to desist or face the full wrath of the law.

The warning came in a national broadcast made by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan over the crisis yesterday.

The Vice president who expressed shock over the spate of killing and destruction said the federal government cannot fold its arm and watch people take the law into their hands.

According to vice president Jonathan those arrested in the course of the crisis would be brought to justice no matter who was involved.

His words; “we would not hide anyone who hides under the canopy of crowd action to elude justice… the federal government is determined to secure the conviction of the perpetrators of this crime no matter how highly placed”.

He assured Nigerians that the federal government is on top of the situation and has the capacity to put the crisis under control by preserving the lives and properties of the citizenry irrespective of their ethnic and religious affiliation.

The vice president equally assured foreign nationals residing in the state of government protection saying that the government had convened high powered security meetings to study the situation.