Jonathan Holds Emergency Security Meeting over Plateau

 

Font Size: a / A

President Goodluck Jonathan

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos and Muhammad Bello in Abuja

•State govt extends curfew in four LGs, declares two days of mourning

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday summoned an emergency meeting of his security chiefs to discuss last weekend’s ethnic-fueled violence in Plateau State that has claimed over 100 lives.

Sources said the president, worried by the renewed violence in the state in the wake of his efforts to tackle headlong the insecurity in the North, met with his security team to review the situation and chart a new course on tackling the worsening internecine conflict in the state.
Senator Gyang Dantong, representing Plateau North and the Majority Leader, Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. James Gyang Fulani, were killed on Sunday when gunmen, suspected to be of Fulani ethnic stock, attacked a funeral in Matse, Riyom Local Government Area of the state.

Besides, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Simon Mwadkwon, and Chairman of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Mr. Emmanuel Lomang, cheated death during the attack.
They were all in Matse for the mass burial for victims of Saturday's massacre in Gashish, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area and Riyom, in Riyom Local Government Area of the state.

The fresh attacks had prompted the state government to declare a dusk-to-dawn curfew, which was extended yesterday from 7 pm to noon instead of from 7 pm to 7 am.
Senate President David Mark, who was also in the state, decried the killings, saying with them, there is an urgent need to find a lasting solution to the conflict in the state.

Although details of discussion at the security meeting held at the State House were sketchy last night, it was gathered that the meeting caught many of the service chiefs and other participants unawares.
For example, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, and the acting Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, who were on an on-the-spot assessment visit to the scenes of the weekend’s killings in the state, had to cut short their tour of the area to attend the security meeting.

Petinrin and Abubakar, who were earlier billed to visit the state governor, Chief Jonah Jang, had to send word back to the governor that they would not be able to do so anymore as they had to attend the security meeting in Abuja.
On arrival at the airport, they were said to have headed straight to Barkin Ladi from where they returned to Abuja.

In addition to Petinrin and Abubakar, others who attended the meeting included Minister of State for Defence, Erelu  Olusola Obada; Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade; Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro; National  Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd); Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Umar; and the Director-General, State Security Service, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong.

However, after three hours, the participants tactically rebuffed enquiries from State House reporters on what transpired at the meeting.
Notwithstanding their refusal to open up, THISDAY gathered that the president was visibly unsatisfied with the development in Plateau despite his recent reshuffle of the nation’s security architecture.

Presidency sources said the meeting expressed concern that the Plateau conflict was assuming a dangerous dimension and urgent steps should be taken to remedy the situation.

The meeting accused some Islamic sects in Niger and Chad of abetting the attacks, noting that given the range of sophisticated weapons in the possession of the attackers, there was no way they could have possessed the means to buy them.
The meeting, sources said, agreed to step up security in the state and encouraged the NSA to continue with his ongoing visits to Northern political and traditional leaders, with a view to paving the way for a rapprochement between the feuding parties.
On Sunday night, Jonathan had ordered the head of the security agencies to produce the perpetrators of the violence and bring them to justice.

The president, through his spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati, had ordered that all the relevant security agencies must ensure that all those involved in the killing are brought to book.

The state government yesterday also extended the curfew earlier imposed on the four local government areas Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi and Riyom – by five hours, which caught many residents who had left their homes early in the morning unawares.
Jang, who in a state broadcast described the Sunday killings as one calamity too many in the heightened attacks against the innocent and unarmed citizens of Plateau State, called for urgent steps to end the conflict in Plateau.

According to him, security reports showed that the funeral procession for people that were earlier attacked and killed was also attacked by gunmen from the surrounding hills, adding: “I am sad to announce that in that circumstances two of our lawmakers, distinguished Senator Gyang Dantong, representing Plateau North in the Senate and Hon. Gyang Fulani, representing Barkin Ladi in the Plateau State House of Assembly, lost their lives.”

He described the attack on a funeral procession as the “highest level of desecration of human dignity,” adding that there was an attack the previous day which resulted in dozens of casualties and a follow up attack the following day on mourners, who were not allowed to bury their dead.

“This gives us an insight into a depravity that is beyond ordinary human comprehension and acceptance. Today, several weeks and months before now, Northern Nigeria and indeed Plateau State have witnessed deadly challenges to the people’s way of life, threatening our national security.

“The guns and machetes that have dealt a heavy blow to the lives of innocent victims in our villages and cities say a lot about the threat to our collective security.

“This threat on ordinary, defenceless citizens is today a common danger to the people of Plateau State and Nigeria,” he added.
He said the perpetrators of the attacks had shown that they were willing to resort to the killing of children, women and the elderly and to embark on poisonous propaganda to bring Nigeria on its knees, using ethnic and religious forms of mobilisation.
“The attacks are clearly a declaration of war on Plateau State, orchestrated through well-trained militants who are not willing to live and let live, but to establish a terrorist base on the high grounds and hills of the Plateau.

“This destructive work even under a federal-imposed state of emergency has reached a climax with the unfortunate death of a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, among several other innocent citizens.
“Plateau State is not only a state undergoing the torment of external aggression, it is also a symbol of the unity of Nigeria. It stands for rights and justice against all forms of oppression. We all must stand in defence of these principles as a nation,” Jang said.

He observed that it was under the prevailing circumstances, the state government after due consultation with the security agencies, imposed the curfew on the local government areas till further notice.
He also declared yesterday and today work-free days for solemn prayers for the peace and security of Plateau State and the nation at large.

Mark, who also visited Plateau, decried the wanton killings in the state, stating that with the latest incident, the crisis had reached a climax.
The senate president, who spoke when he paid a condolence visit to Jang at the Government House, expressed his belief that with the death of Dantong and Fulani, the ceaseless and meaningless killings in the state would soon end.

“The deaths of Dantong and Fulani are unfortunate and regrettable and we only hope that with their death, the crisis in the state has reached its peak and must end.

“I have always said that we can resolve this crisis through dialogue and I hope that those concerned will now embrace dialogue so that we can achieve lasting peace,”  he said.

Jang, who received Mark and his entourage, said he had always alerted the Federal Government about the presence of terrorists in the state and expressed regret that his cries had been ignored.
Mark also visited the homes of Dantong and Fulani, both located in the Rayfield area of Jos, where he condoled with their families.