What is wrong with Nigeria. Who issued orders to soldiers not to shoot when they are attacked?

"But from nowhere, Berom youths armed to the teeth appeared and started unleashing havoc," he said, adding three soldiers who were under orders not to shoot following the end of the curfew were also injured.

I smell something fishy here - soldiers were only injured, while the three people they escorted were burnt beyond recognition. Government fiddles, while Jos burns!

---

Shuaibu Mohammed
JOS, Nigeria
Sat May 22, 2010 6:46pm

Youths hacked to death three Muslim herders in central Nigeria on Saturday and burned their bodies, days after a curfew was lifted in a region
where hundreds have died in religious violence this year.

Military officials said the three herders from the Muslim Fulani ethnic group were searching for lost cattle when they were set upon by Christian Berom villagers in Tusung, some 40 km (25 miles) south of the Plateau state capital, Jos.

A Reuters witness saw three bodies, slashed with what appeared to be machete blows and burned beyond recognition, at the Nigerian Air Force hospital in Jos, where they were brought from Tusung by soldiers.

"The three Fulani men were said to have contacted some soldiers to escort them to search for their lost cows," one senior military official said.

"But from nowhere, Berom youths armed to the teeth appeared and started unleashing havoc," he said, adding three soldiers who were under orders not to shoot following the end of the curfew were also injured.

Plateau state government lifted the night-time curfew on Wednesday. It had first been imposed in November 2008 during post-election violence in Jos but was extended in January following clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs.

The federal authorities deployed troops to Jos after hundreds of people died in January but the military presence and curfew were not enough to prevent further outbreaks of violence in March and April, in which hundreds more people died.

Over the past decade, thousands of people have died in religious and ethnic violence in the "Middle Belt" of central Nigeria, where the Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south.

The tension is rooted in decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands and for economic and political power with migrants and settlers from the north.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who was sworn in as head of state on May 6 following the death of president Umaru Yar'Adua, has said ensuring peace and stability is a priority.

But analysts fear local political rivals may seek to exploit the divisions in Plateau state in the run-up to nationwide elections due by next April.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

The only solution is total seperation of the Fulani North from the Middlebelt. The hatred is so deep. Fact is that the middlebelt and non Hausa fulani are no longer in the mood to cow down to the Fulani. Nigeria is clearly not one nation

There is a difference between the Reuters story and the below Tribune Story on the role of the soldiers


Three killed in fresh hostility in Plateau •Nigerians must disengage from ethnic, religious biases — Jonathan
| Print | E-mail
Written by Isaac Shobayo, Leon Usigbe and Ishola Michael - Tribune

Barely three days after the Plateau State government lifted curfew imposed on Jos and its environs, another crisis broke out at Tusung in Barakin Ladi local government of the state on Saturday, leaving three people dead.

Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that the incident occurred at about 4: pm when some Fulani herdsmen stormed Tusung village in search of  missing cow believed to have strayed away the previous day.

A source close to the village told Sunday Tribune that while the Fulanis were combing the area in search of their missing cows misunderstanding ensued between them and the natives, leading to physical confrontation.

It was learnt that in the ensueing scuffle, three people were killed in a barbaric way and their remains roasted before being buried in two different shallow graves.

Sunday Tribune further gathered that the entire Barakin Ladi Local Government was thrown into confusion while motorists plying the highway that runs through the council abandoned the route for fear of attack.

A military source who spoke with Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity, disclosed that it took men of the Military Special Task Force who arrived the scene of the incident three hours, to restore normalcy to the area while four of them also sustained fatal injuries.

The remains of those who died had been deposited at the Nigeria Air Force mortuary while those who sustained injuries are also receiving treatment at the same hospital.

Director of Operation  of the Military Task Force Colonel simple confirmed three people dead without any further comment.

Meanwhile, Plateau State Police Command has commenced a process for the re-trial of suspects of the Jos crises in the state capital as required by the constitution.

This development was made known in Jos on Saturday in a press statement by ASP Muhammed Lerama on behalf of the state Police Commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba.

State Attorney General and commissioner for Justice, Edward Pwajok told Sunday Tribune that the state government was not aware of such development, “I m just hearing it from you and is coming to me as a surprise, when we are officially contacted then I will know how to react for now neither the state police command Jos nor the force head quarters has contacted me”

Lerama said in the statement that, “The Plateau State police command wish to state that the Police force criminal investigation department (FCID) and the Federal Directorate of Public Prosecution (FDPP) Abuja held a pre-trial meeting at the police headquarters Jos on Thursday, 20th May 2010 with the officers and personnel of the state CID Jos as well as the private legal practitioners employed by the federal ministry of justice to prosecute the offenders involved in the Jos crises.

“The reason for this meeting is for the stakeholders to harmonize all aspects of investigations conducted in the cases for a successful prosecution”

The statement added, “by this bulletin, we are calling on all stakeholders and affected persons particularly relations and victims of the January Jos crises who were unable to go to make statement to come forward for a pre-trial interview with the prosecuting counsels.”

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday warned Nigerians to refrain from promoting ethnic and religious factors capable of dividing the citizens of the country.

The president said this during his state visit to Gombe State where he commissioned some projects executed by the state government and attended the maiden convocation of the state university.

According to him, “we are first Nigerians regardless of whether we are male or female, rich or poor, whether we are Fulani or Tangale, whether you are Bilreti or Hausa, Kanikari or Kanuri; our commitment to the union, sacred value of justice and commitment to develop all parts of this country equitably remains unshaken.

“We must work to harness our resources for the improvement of the standard of living of all Nigerians regardless of any distinguishing affiliation.

“As one nation, we have one destiny. No act, omission, statement, claims and activities either in public or private that divide this country along any cleavages must be allowed the slightest space in any part of our dear land.

“We are one, irrespective of our class or creed. If we seek development, we must seek unity, fair play and love. It is only by working together as a nation that we can meet our aspirations to greatness,” president Jonathan stated.

He, therefore, advised universities to ensure that the training given to the youth was such that prepares them for a multi ethnic and multi religious society.

“The training that our universities provide must prepare our youth for a multi ethnic, multi religious society where everyone is considered first as a human before anything,” he said.

He observed that the government and people of Gombe State have demonstrated the capacity to harness the diversity of the state as he stressed that violence and other undesirable behaviours have no place “in our nationhood.”

“Undoubtedly, universities remain the centre for the incubation of inventors and innovators and also, for solving social and economic challenges. It in this regard that I urge the universities as institutions to continue to work hard to disengage from all forms of social vices which do not ennoble humanity.

“The major task before us is to build a greater and stronger Nigeria where the expectations of citizens are met at the doorsteps of stability, he stated.   

He recalled that when Nigeria was at the verge of becoming “a banana republic,” the universities were at the forefront of the efforts to prevent the country from descending into all forms of arbitrariness through vibrancy and activism saying “that the culture of peaceful engagement” must be sustained.

The president pointed out that citizens must seek to build a nation of strong institutions and systems that “serve the poor as well as the rich, the powerless and the powerful in equal measure under God.”

He pledged that the federal government would continue to support the university system so as to improve the necessary intellectual modules that would drive the development of the country.

He remarked that it was in line with this that the government recently negotiated workable agreements with all university-based unions with a view to making strikes and closure of institutions things of the past.

In his address at the occasion, the governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Danjuma Goje, praised president Jonathan for choosing the state as the first place in the north for a state visit since he assumed office as president.

“You have demonstrated that you are a father, a leader, a statesman and a great promoter of national development,” he observed.

Anyway its clear the Fulani no dey fear or think they are untouchable. Why would they venture into a Berom village thinking there will be no trouble. It wasn't too long ago that they masscred over 500 hence a lil bit of common sense woulda told em to stay back in their own area until they for sure there is peace between them and the Berom.