A senior lecturer at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Jos, Professor Umar Habila Dadem Danfulani has explained true facts behind the recent massacres in Plateau State.

The don cautioned reporters and media houses to stop attributing the killings to mere clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

Danfulani, himself a native of the troubled Plateau State said the killings were basic ethnic cleansing.

Fielding questions after delivering a keynote address, “African Pentecostalism: Probity and Accountability,” at the just concluded International Conference on African Pentecostalism, ICAP, the cleric with the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) is of the opinion that Christians in the southern part of the country do not understand what is happening in the North.

Asked to give his perspective to the much talked about fear of Islamisation, the Plateau-born Prof. Danfulani said: “When you are in the south, I don’t think you understand the problem that people are facing in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. I don’t think it’s so much a problem of islamisation than it is of ethnic cleansing.

“It is not herdsmen-farmers clash! Lots of journalists continue to publish rubbish that what is happening in the North is a clash between farmers and herdsmen. That is not true.

“Let me give you a scenario; you have a man who has some cows and he’s moving around with AK47—-because I am in a crisis area, I know a bullet costs N500. To buy an AK47, you need between three and four million naira. So how many cows will I sell to be able to buy an AK47 riffle together with ammunitions? Does it make sense?” he asked.

Continuing, he said: “Economically it will be penny wise pound foolish. So then what actually is happening? In Jos, we have been in this crisis since 2001, some people forget, they think that this is something new. No! It’s a continuation of that. Yoruba Muslims in the North, ethnic Muslims in the North, have they been spared because they are Muslims?

“If you’ve answered this question, you will now know where the problem is coming from. It’s the problem of ethnic cleansing. It’s not just the agenda of Usman Dan Fodio spirit of Islam, it’s the agenda to grab the land and to push the indigenes that are seen as infidels away from the ancestral land and to take over.

“I’m telling you it has already been happening in Jos for a very long time. From the period between Gov. Joshua Dariye and Gov. Jonah Jang, Fulani herdsmen have settled in four local governments and all these local governments are bounded together. They have sent out the indigenes from that area since 1999 till date.

“So the last programme that happened in Barkin Ladi and Mangu local governments was just an attempt to extend their frontiers. They have said it is possible because they did it there and nobody said anything.

“You can see that all the emirs from the North are quiet, which means they are in support of what is happening. If not so, at least one of them would have spoken. So it is a programme! It is an ethnic cleansing and it is unacceptable because the only way that the indigenes can respond is to organise themselves and return fire for fire because the government is already implicated.

Asked to assess the Federal Government’s involvement in all the brouhaha, the COCIN cleric said: “If a whole retired Lieutenant General from the Nigerian army and a man who was known to be involved in so many military coups in Nigeria, General Theophillus Danjuma, can come out and say very clearly that you are on your own then you know really you are on your own.

“Military personnel were seen being dropped from helicopters. No Fulani is fighting the people; the people are fighting with the federal forces of Nigeria—-mercenaries and some people that have been carefully picked.

“We have been living with it and we know exactly what is happening. No Fulani is fighting us. The Fulanis are using the federal might to fight us. That is the truth. Even the Head of State knows it,” Danfulani said matter of factly, pointing out that most of Service chiefs have blood on their hands.

Nevertheless, the university don believes that Christianity has always blossomed more where there’s persecution, pointing out that the people are usually empowered in such a way that Christianity will actually ride on the wings of persecution. ”That is our history.

“Before Constantine, Christians were being butchered and killed; Christian corpses were being used as torches in the night to light the streets. It was that bad. But at the end of the day, there was respite. Before Constantine died, he allowed Christianity to flourish and his children made it an official religion. Remember China, during the period of Mao Tse Tung,” he consoling Christians.

Recall that the TNG recently published an exclusive series on the crisis that claimed well over 200 lives and turned thousands homeless.

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