How Jos crisis began - By man on the spot

Written by Mahmud Lalo, Jos & Misbahu Bashir, Abuja   
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 06:20

The crisis that engulfed the Plateau State capital of Jos on Sunday started at Dutse Uku on the city outskirts when Christian youth tried to stop a Muslim man from renovating his house that was destroyed in the November 2008 riot, according to Alhaji Kabir Muhammad, the man at the center of the storm.

Speaking to our reporter in Jos yesterday, Alhaji Kabiru said, “During the 2008 crisis [in Jos], my house was burnt and I had to relocate elsewhere while I started renovating it gradually. By weekend, I had reached the level where I was going to put on the decking. The residents in my area had earlier volunteered to help me when I come to put on the decking. Therefore yesterday (Sunday, January 17th) people came to the site to help in putting on the decking. We did a significant level of the work when the sand finished, so I rushed to Yan’ Tifa [area] and ordered two trucks of sand.”
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He continued, “When the driver went for the second round to supply the sand, I saw from afar that some people were stoning the people in the tipper truck, while the people in the truck too were stoning them. I went down there to see what was happening, and they told me that they were insulting them. Many people gathered there and consoled the tipper men and everybody dispersed. Then the person that was stoning the people in the truck went and told his people that he was beaten by some Hausa youths and before you know it, a mob gathered at the site where I was renovating my house and demanded that we should stop the work. I then realized that the situation might become uncontrollable, so I rushed with my car to call soldiers who were posted at Yan Trailer [garage].

“Even before I got there, someone had informed them because they were already in their van heading towards the area. So I turned back and followed them. When we arrived at my house with the soldiers, the people popularly known as Yan Kasa [i.e. natives] demanded that the renovation work should be stopped. One particular Bajari man was the one that insisted that I must halt the work. I explained to the soldiers that I had already started this work when they proposed that the work should be stopped so that the matter can be resolved. One of the soldiers even collected my number and said that about five of us will go and sit down to resolve the matter. Then all of a sudden, we saw one Achaba boy [commercial motorcyclist] heading towards us with blood all over him. Someone was pushing his motorcycle, then another old man followed suit with similar injuries. I told my people to station the two victims so that they can serve as witnesses to us. So I asked the workers to stop the work, but the workers insisted that we must continue with work since we had already mixed the cement, sand and stone.

“I told them that they should stop the work since I was the one that bought the cement, but they refused. So the soldiers said that they should continue the work with the cement that was mixed and when they finish it, they should then stop. But before you know it, we saw a group of youths from afar and they started stoning us. We later heard that they had set up a road block around Baptist area and they were beating people. So we all dispersed. That is as far as I can remember.”

Asked if the Yan Kasa youth had told him why he must stop his renovation work, Alhaji Kabir said, “Yes, they said that they don’t want any Muslim to come back to that area again. That is what they said, that no Muslim should return to that area.” He was also asked if any Muslims live in the area, and he said, “There are some Muslims, but my house happens to be at the boundary which separates our area from their area.  Down inside the area there were Muslims. There are even some that renovated their houses and returned during the [Ramadan] fasting period, but my house happens to be at the boundary and there are no Muslims there.”

Alhaji Kabiru Muhammad also denied claims that the trouble started because he encroached upon someone else’s land while renovating his house. He said, “I have heard many versions of this incident, but this is the first time I am hearing this. I have been living in that area for over twenty years. It is not even a new house. It is an old house that was burnt during the 2008 crisis. I am just trying to renovate it. There is no truth in this allegation and like I said, this is the first time I am hearing this.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Police Affairs Dr Ibrahim Yakubu Lame said in Abuja yesterday that the police have been directed to fish out and bring to book those behind Sunday’s latest mayhem in Jos. 

He said at the police force headquarters Abuja while commissioning new trucks and motorcycles that those behind the violent crisis in Jos and other upheavals in all parts of the country and their sponsors will no longer have any place to hide, as the police have been given orders to fish them out by all means and prosecute them.

Lame said the police will go after those responsible for the violence, no matter how highly placed in the society, in order to put a permanent stop to wanton destruction of lives and property. He blamed such incidents on some highly placed individuals in the society and vowed that government will not allow them to destroy the economic and social fabric of the nation.

all these killings because of this

Why is it that wen ever some group of start to create trouble the also claim to be victims. Now reading the story, do you believe that's the reason for the crisis? Secondly, who renovates his house on sunday? Partly it was true that the man was not allowed to renovate his house, is that the reason for him to bring hoodlums with guns attack a church on a sunday service? It was agreed that the should settle their dispute with dialogue but he decided to use arms. If the had burnt the whole of Jos city to the ground this would have been the reason for that. I am in Jos now. I saw and experienced must of the things that happened. Everybody has his or her own version of the story. Both sides will claim to be victims even though we know who normally starts it always.