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Plateau youths vow not to cooperate with Alli
Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Declaring their opposition to emergency rule, youths of Plateau State have vowed not to cooperate with the sole
administrator, Maj-Gen. Mohammed Chris Alli.
They made the declaration as the administrator ordered a mop-up of arms from the troubled areas, promising cash
rewards for militants who surrender their weapons.
In separate statements by the youth branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Jos and Bokkos and the Middle
Belt Progressive Movement, the youth said the reasons given by President Olusegun Obasanjo for the imposition of
a state of emergency in the state were not tenable.
According to the chairman of Youth CAN, Mr. Matthias Ndian, in the statement made available to our correspondent
on Friday, the decision to ignore the administrator was based on the undemocratic nature of his appointment.
He stated that they were taken aback by President Obasanjo�s speech when he announced the state of emergency on
Tuesday. �The speech is symptomatic of an overzealous dictatorship, characterised with the unthinking zeal of a
man whose ambition to please a certain group overshadows any sense of logic,� he said.
According to the youth, having carefully analysed the president�s speech, his description of the governor as incompetent
was a personal opinion.
The groups called on the elected officials from the state to resign their positions immediately adding that the
recall process would be initiated against any elected representative who failed to heed the call.
Ndian said that besides keeping a distance from Alli, they would disown any indigene of the state that accepts
an appointment from the interim government.
The youth described the state of emergency as a jihad against the state.
Accusing the president of indifference when Christians were gruesomely murdered in Kano last week, they called
on Obasanjo to rescind the imposition of emergency rule on Plateau State, in the interest of justice and fair play.
Chairman of the Middle Belt Progressive Movement, Mr. Paul Wai, said it was worrisome that the state of emergency
was imposed seven days after the Council of Ulama visited the president and before the expiration of the seven-day
ultimatum given to the president by Sheik Umar Kabo to take action on Plateau State.
He said that the grand design of jihadists was to capture the Middle Belt, and having failed in their mission,
were now trying to stir chaos and confusion in the region.
According to him: �What is happening on the plateau cannot even be isolated from what has happened severally in
Kaduna, Zaria, Zangon Kataf, Kafanchan, Bauchi, Kano, Gombe, Yola and Jalingo in Taraba state. Of truth, it is
a jihad that has once again, in a Dan Fodio style, been declared against the Middle Belt in order to forcefully
bring it back to the Hausa/Fulani northern Nigeria oligarchic fold led by the Sokoto Caliphate.�
Alli has ordered the immediate disarming of the various ethnic militia in the troubled parts of the state, in order
to stem the tide of armed insurgency in the area.
In a statement on Friday signed by Secretary to the State Government, Mr. John Gobak, the administrator offered
N100,000 for the surrender of a rifle, while anyone who voluntarily hands over a locally-made weapon would be given
N25,000.
The administrator also offered a reward of N20,000 for any useful information leading to the discovery of hidden
arms.
He also pledged that the identity of informants would be shielded from public knowledge while the police would
also not prosecute them.
The statement noted the administrator�s concern at the revelation that there was a large number of arms in private
hands and the negative impact that it had had on the lingering crises in the state.
He explained that this reward mechanism was a major part of on-going efforts to reconcile warring communities and
restore lasting peace to the state.
The administrator, according to security sources, also directed security agencies to expose hidden arms caches,
especially against the backdrop of renewed violence in Yelwa/Shendam area.
It was gathered that the security agents had been directed to mount roadblocks and intensify regular patrols, especially
around the troubled areas.
One of such efforts paid off in the early hours of Thursday, when some armed militia, suspected to be from the
Taroh ethnic group were arrested at Kanke in the central zone of Plateau.
The men, five in number, were arrested with one AK 47 rifle, 93 rounds of 7.6 mm ammunition, 42 machetes and a
cow.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, who
briefed newsmen on the arrest, said that when the men were questioned, they claimed to be going on cattle rustling
from the Fulanis, adding that the police had not yet determined where the men got the AK 47 riffle and the ammunition.
Cattle rustling is one of the contending issues in the recurring crises.
Also, the Gong Gwom Jos, Dr. Victor Pam, has expressed concern at the proliferation of arms in the troubled areas,
saying that such would undermine efforts at restoring peace to the state.
Pam, who spoke at a meeting between the administrator and first class traditional rulers in Jos on Thursday, said
that the first step to achieving peace would be to retrieve illegal arms and ammunition being kept in the state.
He also urged the administrator to release, as a matter of urgency, reports of the various commissions of inquiry
into the crises that had plagued the state.
The Gbong Gwom also advised the people to shun rumour mongering, which he said was a major problem in the state.
The administrator also met with other stakeholders such as permanent secretaries, chief executives of boards and
parastatals, heads of tertiary institutions, local government chairmen and labour leaders.
He urged them to enlighten their people about the need to support the peace efforts and encourage the early reversal
of the emergency rule.
A common request from the various groups was for the administrator to release the reports of the probe panels and
punish persons found to have been culpable in the recurring crises.
SATURDAY PUNCH, May 22, 2004
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