History has once again repeated itself in Jos. The only question that naturally comes to my mind is when the next genocide will take place. It is true the crisis has some political undertone but the truth of the matter is that terror was unleashed on innocent citizens not because of their political inclination but because of their ethnicity/religion. Some individuals who lost their lives dont even know the names of the flag bearers contesting for the chairmanship elections. Surprisinly, some religious leaders are of the opinion that the mayhem was more political than ethno-religious. If I may ask, what would have been the fate of those innocent corpers if they were muslims from Zamfara or Bauchi, secondly, who owns the churches and mosques that were razed down?-PDP? The first step towards correcting and preventing this kind of disaster from reoccuring is TRUTH. If our so-called leaders keep painting the picture of a nation free from ethno-religious intolerance, then the perpetrators of this dastard acts will keep having their way. This is not an issue to be swept under the carpet because the truth of the matter is that rapid hatred is growing amongst the two major religious groups in the country.
The government should as a matter of urgency make sure that any suspect who can be proved beyound reasonable doubt of either sponsoring, promoting, inciting or perpetrating acts of religious/ethnic violence is made to face the full wrath of the law; secondly, government should also constitute a conference of all religious leaders in the country and make it clear to them that it can no longer tolerate ethno-religious crisis in the country and the religious leaders on their part should fashion out ways to promote peace among their various sects. If the government can do this with all sincerity, the product of such action will be 1. those that were affected directly or indirectly will take solace in the fact that government is fighting their course and will feel a sense of justice especially when they learn that Alhaji A or Chief B or Iman C or Pastor D has been sentenced to 40years in prison for sponsoring or inciting ethno-religious related violence. 2. it will send a clear signal to the perpetrators that government can no longer tolerate them.
Jos used to be known as the home of peace and tourism until 2001, 7years later it is witnessing another crisis. The hatred amongst individuals whom were affected directly or indirectly will continue to grow. Imagine what will be going on in the mind of a man that lost his wife, 3 teenage kids, his business premises and his house, then imagine the hatred in the mind of his dependants,relatives,friends,religious members and sympathisers all over the nation; also imagine the children that were orphaned from this tragedy, will you expect them to be patriotic or discharge their duties without sentiments when they end up in the military or police later on in future with hatred in mind for those who cut short the lives of his/her dear parents. What about those that lost everything they owned including their businesses? The list is endless and the fact remains that this hatred is growing in geometric progressions and will soon consume the nation.