JOS, Nigeria — A deadly attack by men allegedly wearing military uniforms led to clashes between villagers and troops in restive central Nigeria Monday, with soldiers accused of opening fire in response, police said.

Details of the incidents were not immediately clear, including whether the attackers were indeed wearing military uniforms and whether soldiers accused of opening fire during violent protests that followed shot anyone.

The commander of a military task force in the region could not be reached. A spokesman for the force, Captain Charles Ekeocha, declined to comment, saying he was still collecting details on what happened.

According to police, the unrest began Sunday night, when attackers killed four people in a predominately Christian village outside the city of Jos.
Hundreds have been killed in clashes between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in Jos and the surrounding area since early 2010.
"Armed men in military uniform attacked Farin Lamba village, , killed four persons and injured five others," said Abdulrahman Akano, police commissioner for Plateau state, where Jos is the capital.

In another attack in Hamman village, also mainly Christian, a teenager was killed, two houses were set ablaze and two others were shot and being treated in hospital, he said. It was not clear whether the two attacks were linked.

On Monday, protesting villagers set soldiers' tents ablaze and threw rocks at troops, according to Akano. Soldiers opened fire in self-defence, he said.
Four people were seriously wounded in the clashes, including one man and three women, said Akano.

Plateau state is in the so-called middle-belt region between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south and has long been a hotspot of ethnic and religious friction in Nigeria.

Christmas Eve bomb blasts and resulting clashes in Jos killed at least 80 people.
The military task force has been accused of bias in favour of Muslim communities in the crisis, which it strongly denies.

They should stop sending Hausa soldiers to Jos.

The Hausa soldiers we now know are behind the killing.

Where is Gowon's family? I haven't heard any of them died.

frosbel:

They should stop sending Hausa soldiers to Jos.

The Hausa soldiers we now know are behind the killing.

The army is one of the last areas remaining to be tackled in the cabals power arsenal.
It will require some pretty stepping, time and deft action to defeat the military; but it will be done. The ethnically lopsided army is the last stronghold left to the cabal in Nigeria's power jigsaw.

Villagers openly clashing with the army is an alarming and shocking development that cannot bode well.
Unfortunately, there is no magic wand fix to its ethnic makeup, but govt is building a brand new 10,000 man force comprising airforce, police, SSS and army that will be led by an airforce officer who will be directly answerable to the President; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-575501.0.html. When that force is ready, there will be no need to ever have regular army troops in Jos and we'll be able to say bye bye to the crisis; until then, the option is containment.

We really have no business being together in one country. Nigeria was a failed project from the word go.

[size=20pt]Worst is yet to come!

The docile but divided polity of the South hangs on a delicate balance![/size]

If GEJ wins these elections, and disgruntled elements in the North start sending their suicide bombers down South, all Southerners
will start crapping themselves, and their positions will start to shift then as people from Jos, the Middle belt, the East and the West,
start scrambling for cover, (this is my prediction)

[size=15pt]We need to fix the State so we can fix the problem![/size]

When the military becomes compromised by religion then you have a very dangerous situation, like what is obtainable in pakistan. When i read all of this i remember what the USA said about nigeria being a failed state that may likely disintegrate by 2015. Action needs to be taken now if goodluck could get his mind off re-election for a minute

^^^
you are a big foool. . .

Beaf:

The army is one of the last areas remaining to be tackled in the cabals power arsenal.
It will require some pretty stepping, time and deft action to defeat the military; but it will be done. The ethnically lopsided army is the last stronghold left to the cabal in Nigeria's power jigsaw.

Villagers openly clashing with the army is an alarming and shocking development that cannot bode well.
Unfortunately, there is no magic wand fix to its ethnic makeup, but govt is building a brand new 10,000 man force comprising airforce, police, SSS and army that will be led by an airforce officer who will be directly answerable to the President; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-575501.0.html. When that force is ready, there will be no need to ever have regular army troops in Jos and we'll be able to say bye bye to the crisis; until then, the option is containment.

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.  As opposed to impartially providing information

GEJ is highly compromised and not competent enough to solve the problem -

Your so called 10,000 army will be ready when the entire jos has been massacred.

frosbel:

They should stop sending Hausa soldiers to Jos.

The Hausa soldiers we now know are behind the killing.

you are not far from the truth.their mission in jos is never to provide security but to assist their aboki brothers in the killings.i wonder when this is going to end.humans are being massacred here and not chickens for goodness sake.too bad,GEJ is not doing enough to stop this evil.where is gowon?is he waiting for jos to become a desert before he acts?why cant these dangerous animals be seperated from humans?my heart bleeds for these innocent kids and women being wasted by these almajiris.

blacksta:

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.  As opposed to impartially providing information

GEJ is highly compromised and not competent enough to solve the problem -

Your so called 10,000 army will be ready when the entire jos has been massacred.  

Some funny shyte there!
What is your solution? It doesn't make sense to just scream and end up saying exactly nothing. No counter-argument, no suggestion, nothing.

What do you suggest be done to correct the gross ethnic imbalance that has created partisan problems in the army? GEJ's brand new army solution is the best idea out there. It should be ready in months.

I thought it was Fulani not Hausa?

@Beaf

I agree we need something akin to the now defunct Iraq republican guard, a well trained and highly specialised force that can counter the army in cases of threats to national security.

But I do not believe that the majority of Nigerian soldiers are Muslim. I would say half and half. However I will also have to agree that the top echelon of the army are mostly Hausa Muslim.

We need to counter this threat very quickly , because after years of research and education , I am 100% certain that these guys want to dominate US irrespective of any appeasements from the south or similar gestures of reconciliation.

Remember they have a mind set ( I lived there for 6 years ), totally different from the mindset of the south and it is this mindset that we need to change.

Honestly I am fed-up with a certain group of people dragging us back to the stone age, when all we want is progression, equality and prosperity.

GEJ should act quickly, no amount of appeasement he offers these guys will satiate their unquenchable thirst for bloodshed. He should get REAL and stop messing about.

frosbel:

@Beaf

I agree we need something akin to the now defunct Iraq republican guard, a well trained and highly specialised force that can counter the army in cases of threats to national security.

But I do not believe that the majority of Nigerian soldiers are Muslim. I would say half and half. However I will also have to agree that the top echelon of the army are mostly Hausa Muslim.

We need to counter this threat very quickly , because after years of research and education , I am 100% certain that these guys want to dominate US irrespective of any appeasements from the south or similar gestures of reconciliation.

Remember they have a mind set ( I lived there for 6 years ), totally different from the mindset of the south and it is this mindset that we need to change.

Honestly I am fed-up with a certain group of people dragging us back to the stone age, when all we want is progression, equality and prosperity.

GEJ should act quickly, no amount of appeasement he offers these guys will satiate their unquenchable thirst for bloodshed. He should get REAL and stop messing about.

It is the demographics of the officer echelon that matters most, because in the army obedience without questions is required; so a Christian corporal can be ordered to shoot fellow Christians and he would do it without blinking, same goes for a Muslim soldier.
Any ethnic concentration in the officer corps needs to be diluted urgently and in ways that do not cause further strife. It is the only way to shield the army from partisan politics.

Beaf:

It is the demographics of the officer echelon that matters most, because in the army obedience without questions is required; so a Christian corporal can be ordered to shoot fellow Christians and he would do it without blinking, same goes for a Muslim soldier.
Any ethnic concentration in the officer corps needs to be diluted urgently and in ways that do not cause further strife. It is the only way to shield the army from partisan politics.

The army have always been dominated by mostly tribes within the north central region and they do not necessarily translate to hausa or fulani.

~Bluetooth:

The army have always been dominated by mostly tribes within the north central region and they do not necessarily translate to hausa or fulani.

The bulk of non commissioned officer's are from Benue and Plateau, but demographics at the officer level is very heavily weighted in favour of the Hausa Fulani and that bias gets worse as the ranks get higher.

i think it will be important to understand how our security operatives work to be able to appreciate what is going on in Jos. If you have ever witnessed police or military intervention of any kind in any civil unrest such as a street fight as we sometimes have in Lagos and a shot is fired by the thugs or cult guys at the police particularly the MOPOL or the soldiers, you would think there is a war. That fired shot is like a command that they should shoot at sight. God! I will forever remember the odua people congress saga in Lagos and my youth service period in cross river. I remember a discussion I had with my MOPOL neighbour about this criminal act. You know what he told me? Whenever there is a crisis and the rampaging youths for by any means have guns and for any reason shoot at the police or the military, runnnnnnnnnnnnnn for you life.

Its not a question of the ethnicity or religion of the soldiers, its about the training they have had, their orientation. if you have ever been told to your face that you are a bloody civilian. i am sure you will understand this.

Imagine a situation where youths from a community attacked another community over a land dispute. Some of the youths from the community that was attacked were furious that the police did not do enough to stop the crisis. A genuine anger you would say. While protesting the police action, some police men were assaulted and a distress call was made by the police. the response; shelling of that community.  
The victims; the innocent members of the community

frosbel:


On Monday, protesting villagers set soldiers' tents ablaze and threw rocks at troops, according to Akano. Soldiers opened fire in self-defence, he said.
Four people were seriously wounded in the clashes, including one man and three women, said Akano.

Even when rocks were thrown at them, soldiers opened fire in self- defence.

How i wish we can always look beyond the ethnic or religious angle to our crisis to see the real underlying cause.