(Since President Olusegun Obansanjo declared a State of Emergency in Plateau State on May 18 and appointed an Administrator to oversee the affairs of the state, a lot has been happening in an effort to restore peace to the State. Midway into the six-month emergency period, Sunday Vanguard examines the journey so far.)
The guns have ceased to sound and the alarms of invading assailants have disappeared. Life is gradually returning to normal as peace is restored to the crises-torn areas. But will it last? This is the question many people are asking as the state of emergency imposed on the state clocks three months this Wednesday (August 18).
Unlike the past when some areas were ‘‘no-go’’ areas for certain people especially in the Southern Senatorial District of the state, illegal road blocks that sounded the death knell of ‘wrong’ visitors, depending on which side of the divide one fell, have been dismantled. Many gory stories were told of how many met their untimely deaths at such road blocks just because of the type of dress they wore while the crises lasted.
But thank God, all these have become history, at least for now, following the measures introduced. Arguably, the most significant achievement of the Administrator, Major-General Chris Alli so far, is the gradual return of many of those who fled or were displaced by the crises to their former homes. Be it in Yelwa, Bakin-Ciyawa, Shendam, Kadarko, Garkawa and many other places. Many of those who left have been returning and are beginning life in their former homes.
Those who have the means are rebuilding their damaged houses while others are trying to manage as best as they can. The distribution of relief materials to them which include building materials is likely to go a long way in accelerating the resettlement process. That people heeded the appeal from the State Government to return signposts the fact that they consider the places safe enough to return to.
Although there are reports of continued resistance to the return of the displaced persons in some parts, these are isolated cases. So far, the Administration has already covered five of its eight agenda and is currently working on the sixth one which appears very critical to the peace process. This is the holding of a Constituent Assembly/Peace Conference which will bring together representatives of the various ethnic nationalities and other interest groups to discuss frankly on issues that are breeding crisis amongst them. For General Alli, it has been an action-packed three months as he strives to live up to expectation by achieving the objective of his assignment.
Right from May 19 when he arrived the state, he has been engaged in one activity or the other in trying to consolidate the peace process. He started by dialoguing with various interest groups including community and religious leaders, as well as labour and other stake holders in the state during which he listened to suggestions on what should be done to stem further violence. He used the opportunity to charge every group to become ambassadors of peace, urging them to launch a crusade against further violence. After the series of consultations, the Administrator paid a visit to the affected areas especially in the Southern part of the State during which he saw the level of devastation in the various places.
He expressed shock at the level of destruction which he felt was unbecoming of a civilized society. As he went about, he kept harping on the need to stop further violence and return the state to its former enviable position as a home of peace. General Alli also visited camps in Nasarawa and Bauchi states where those displaced by the crises in the state were taking refuge, appealing to them to return as peace was being restored. He also solicited the co-operation of the governments of the two states towards persuading the displaced persons to return. Soon after, a committee was put in place to conduct a census of internally displaced persons.
Apart from his interactions with the various groups, former state governors and secretaries to the state government were invited to come and make inputs into the peace process. Soon after, special peace committees were constituted and deployed to different local government areas to preach peace.
The various security agencies have also proved their mettle by making their presence felt in the various areas to which they were deployed. This has helped to check the activities of armed militia who had virtually taken over highways and other areas, unleashing terror on perceived opponents. All the illegal road blocks mounted by them have been dismantled and combined military and police teams have taken positions in the areas.
However, the “cash-for-arms” programme under which people were encouraged to turn in their illegally acquired arms for cash reward of up to N100,000.00 has recorded limited success as the quantity so far returned has not matched the estimated quantity in people’s hands. This is despite assurances that nobody would be prosecuted for holding arms illegally. It was not possible for Sunday Vanguard to ascertain the exact quantity of arms already returned and how much compensation has been given at press time, because officials contacted said they needed to contact other officers to get the exact figures.
The much expected peace conference is scheduled to be flagged off by President Olusegun Obasanjo during his assessment visit to the state this week (August 18 and 19) where the underlining issues generating distrust are to be trashed out. According to the head of the study group inaugurated by the state government to plan the conference, Dr. Joseph Golwa, the peace conference would discuss issues considered critical to peace such as the citizenship/indegene/settler issue, Christian – Muslim issue and the land use ownership issue among others.
The conference Sunday Vanguard learnt, is to afford people opportunity to vent whatever grievance they had against other people on these issues so that the ways out could be discussed and trashed out. The recommendations of the conference would be subsequently implemented while a Truth and Reconciliation Commission would also be constituted to complete the process of reconciliation. General Alli is expected to present his report to the Federal Government by November, the content of which would determine what is next.
Without doubt, normalcy has returned to the state and many are anxiously awaiting the return of the suspended democratic structures to the state. However, there are political dimensions to the situation as some politicians appear to be capitalizing on the situation to settle old political scores with the suspended governor, Chief Joshua Dariye and his team.
Such people who include some top politicians in the state are alleged to have formed a coalition to stop Dariye who they see as a common enemy from returning to his seat. Sunday Vanguard learnt that if the politicians in this group had their way, they wanted the Constitution of the country disregarded in dealing with the problem in the state.
Sources disclosed that but for the insistence of some top party officials in Abuja that Dariye can only be removed through due constitutional process; they would have loved the suspension converted to removal by fiat. The situation has now pitched the state into camps of those for and against the return of democratic structures with those against routing for the extension of the period for the state of emergency.
Those in this group are even alleged to be planning to instigate fresh violence in the troubled parts during the President’s visit next week to justify the call for extension of the emergency. Not a few people agree that the political dimension to the problem in the state might be another time bomb waiting to explode at the appropriate time. It is this political dimension to the crisis that is responsible for the current scramble for the soul of the PDP in the state which has resulted in the return of some of those who left the party for other political parties.
The fear among many residents is that while General Alli might succeed in resolving the ethno-religious crises which led to the declaration of a state of emergency, a political crisis might surface after his exit to again threaten the peace of the state. General Alli himself is not unaware of the fact that what is in place now is a fragile peace which should be built upon to become a permanent feature in the state.
He told Sunday Vanguard in a brief chat that he desired that the peace in the state be permanent one noting as he has always done that the people must commit themselves to peace for it to endure. Whether this will be or not is likely to be dictated by how events unfold in the remaining three months of the emergency period expected to terminate in November. But some pressure groups have continued to insist that the declaration of emergency in the state was an injustice which should be reversed even before the six months.
One of them is a group known as Plateau Patriots which in the wake of the declaration wrote to President Obasanjo saying the action was unfair. According to volume two of its letter to Obasanjo which was made public last week, the group declared: “We have proved beyond reasonable doubt the injustice of the imposition of state of emergency on Plateau State and appeal to Mr President to reverse himself and restore constitutional and democratic dignity to Plateau State. “Our country in its present democratic vista has the capacity to resolve matters of conflict and injustice if our leadership approaches issues with sincerity and firmness.” It remains to be seen whether Mr President will accept their appeal.
