Senator, Assembly Member Die In Jos Crisis

A senator of the Federal Republic, Senator Gyang Dantong (PDP-Plateau North) and the Chief Whip of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Gyang Fulani, are among 52 persons who were yesterday confirmed dead following internecine killings in 13 villages near Jos, the state capital.

The federal and state lawmakers died yesterday afternoon as a result of shocks following spontaneous shooting at the scene of the mass burial for the victims of Saturday’s conflict between some Fulani herdsmen and villagers.

About 23 persons had died on Saturday in raids on 11 Christian villages by Fulani herdsmen.

The Tide learnt that raids and reprisal attacks yesterday had left 52 people dead in Christian villages near Jos city where men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) have struggled to contain religious violence.

In a swift reaction to the latest spate of killings in the state, the Plateau State Government, yesterday, announced the imposition of curfew on four local government areas, hit hard by the conflict.

The local government areas include Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi and Riyom.

A statement from the office of the Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Abraham Yiljap, read: “Governor Jonah Jang has approved the immediate curfew to commence from 7:30pm Sunday to 7am Monday while the curfew commences from six in the evening of Monday till further notice”.

This is coming on the heels of the security situation that resulted in the killing of a serving senator, Gyang Dantong Dalyop and the Chief Whip of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Gyang James Fulani, early yesterday.

In a statement yesterday, Senate President David Mark, described Senator Gyang Dantong’s death as shocking, saying “the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians must be stopped.”

Mark, in the statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said governments at different levels and security operatives “must rise to halt these senseless killings.

“We must do everything within the ambit of our laws to ensure that this type of murderous acts is stopped. As a nation, we must just rise against those who are determined to return us to a state of nature where life had little or no value”.

Describing Dantong’s death as a personal loss, the Senate President said the deceased was “a patriotic parliamentarian, quintessential gentleman and committed nationalist who was killed in active service to his fatherland”.

Mark urged the security agencies to bring the perpetrators of the gruesome act to justice.

The brother of the deceased, Mr. Ruwang Dantong, told newsmen that Senator Gyang Dantong died after seeing the dead bodies of his kinsmen killed in an attack on Kakuruk village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Ruwang also confirmed the death of Assemblyman, Gyang Fulani, representing Barkin Ladi constituency in Plateau State House of Assembly.

Ruwang said that both representatives were at the scene of the attack carried out between Friday and Saturday when they started hearing gunshots from another set of attackers.

Shocked by the situation, the duo collapsed, and were taken to Barkin Ladi General Hospital where they were pronounced dead.

When newsmen visited the Rayfield residence of the late senator, relatives and well wishers were in shock and wailing over the deaths.

Media aide to the state Governor, Ayuba Pam also said that the Senator and member of the state Assembly died following the shooting at the burial.

”As far as we are concerned, Senator Gyang Dantong was killed. Although he was not directly shot, he died following the sporadic shooting at the grave side by the Fulani attackers which forced everyone to run for safety. Heart attack doesn’t develop suddenly.”

The JTF spokesperson, Mustapha Salisu, assailants launched “sophisticated attacks” on several villages near Jos early Saturday, adding that “they came in hundreds. Some had (police) uniforms and some even had bulletproof vests.”

He said the special task force fought back for hours and lost two policemen in the battle. Salisu initially said that 37 people were killed, including 14 civilians and 21 assailants.

However, later in the day, Nigerian Red Cross official, Andronicus Adeyemo said aid workers had counted 52 dead and more than 300 displaced people from the attacks. He did not give a breakdown.

Authorities declined to comment on who they suspect, but similar raids had been blamed on Muslim herdsmen in the past.

Mark Lipdo, who runs a Christian advocacy group known as the Stefanos Foundation, gave a list of the 13 villages where he got reports of attacks. He said they were all Christians.

He blamed Muslim herdsmen of the Fulani ethnic group for the attacks. However, Nurudeen Abdullahi, Plateau State Chairman of Miyetti Allah Fulani Herdsmen Association, denied any involvement by the herdsmen.

“This is a usual propaganda used on our people but we are not the ones that attacked the villages in the area,” he said.

Abdullahi accused Christian farmers of attacking Muslim settlements and stealing their cows.

Jos and surrounding communities in Plateau State have been torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its different ethnic groups and major religions — Christianity and Islam — against each other. While divided by religion, politics and economics often fuel the fighting.

These are just the latest killings to target the Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas, regions of farmlands that supply produces like potatoes, corn and tomatoes to the rest of the nation.

Nigeria, a multi ethnic nation of more than 160 million people, is largely divided into a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north. Jos is located in the “middle belt,” at the meeting point of these two regions.

Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos in 2010.

However, the rise in Boko Haram insurgency has added a new dimension to the long-running conflict, fanning religious tensions in this flashpoint area.

Salisu said authorities discovered a bomb and safely detonated it late Friday in a populated neighbourhood in the city of Jos.

They declined to say who they suspect but sect members have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Jos in the past.

All previous Jos attacks had targeted churches, a deliberate move to trigger off more religious violence, many have said. They all sparked reprisals.

Nelson Chukwudi

L-R: Minister of Science, Prof. Ita Ewa, former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, at the 2nd Prof. Barth Nnaji Biennial Lecture at Agbani, Enugu State,last Saturday