Comment:
Forget about the governors and advisory committees - they have never worked for the people. If Ag. President Jonathan is going to show himself connected to the people these are the things he must do:

1. Get actual representatives of the warring parties, people warned they are not coming to Abuja to drink tea, but has the mandate to speak for these communities - 2 from each community no matter how small.

2. Bring them to Abuja and have an internationally televised press conference. Impress on them, get interpreters if need be, and the world of a determination to put a stop to this senselessness, whatever its cause. Let each group present their legitimate grievances in a one page readout, and let them tell us how they feel about this violence.

3. Have a conference with these representatives in the prescence of Nigerians of integrity from all over Nigeria. Let them first of all renounce violence, then present their desires for a peacelful resolution. Discuss, collect your evidence, and issue a stern warning that a state-of-emergence is coming to their villages if this nonsense doesn't stop.

4. Make decisions on the evidence before you. Divide villages into smitterens if need be, set boundaries as necessary - either for cattle rearing or agriculture. Establish a means of enforcement.

5. At any further instance of violence, declare a state of emergency. Evacuate villages on the frontlines on either side and create a separation barrier manned by military and police if need be.

Unless drastic action is taken by the FG this thing will go kaboom in everyone's faces - you can forget about 2011, 2012 or 2015!

Written by Ahmed Mohammed & Mahmud Lalo, Jos     
Monday, 19 April 2010 23:32   - Daily Trust

Two corpses were recovered by the police command yesterday in Riyom local government area of Plateau State.
Plateau State Public Relations Officer ASP Muhammed Lerama who confirmed the incident said information reaching them revealed that four people went to farm yesterday morning and did not return home which prompted a search team to go looking for them. Though the PPRO said they were yet to have full details of what happened as at the time of filing this story he however said that preliminary report showed that two corpses were discovered while the remaining two were still missing.

Lerama told our reporters that further details of the incident will be made available today.

A resident of the area Mr Pam Daniel said four people were killed by some assailants suspected to be Fulani when they went to farm Monday morning.

Pam said residents became suspicious when the four people did not return from the farm towards the evening which made them to launch a search operation in the company of security men. He said it was late in the evening that the corpses of two people out of the four were discovered; the remaining two were still missing.

Meanwhile, youths in their dozens allegedly blocked Jos-Abuja road in the area harassing motorists passing through to show their grievances over the incident before they were dispersed by the Special Task Force.

Jos: 7 bus passengers dragged out, killed 

Link - http://www.news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17640:jos-7-bus-passengers-dragged-out-killed&catid=46:lead-stories&Itemid=140


Written by Abdulmutallib A. Abubakar     
Tuesday, 20 April 2010 23:47  - Daily Trust

Youths in Riyom Local Government Area barricaded the Abuja-Jos highway yesterday and killed seven people travelling along the route, introducing a new dimension to the tit-for-tat violence in Plateau State where hundreds have been killed since January.
Those killed yesterday were passengers travelling through Jos from other parts of the country, according survivors of the attack at Tahoss village, 30 kilometres south of Jos.

Surviving passengers said Christian youths from the Berom tribe barricaded the road as early as 9:00am, stopping vehicles and interrogating passengers to ascertain their religious affiliations or ethnic origins, after which those who were from rival tribes and religion were dragged out of the vehicles and beaten.

Our correspondents learnt that the attacks were a reprisal to avenge the killing of four people in the area by suspected Fulani marauders on Monday.

The youths mounted roadblocks since Monday night but were dispersed by the men of the special task force. They later regrouped yesterday morning.

Chairman of Riyom LGA Mr. Simon Markus confirmed to BBC Hausa yesterday that six people were killed in the incident. He said security officers had been drafted to the area, and that six corpses had been exhumed. He lamented that the people killed were mere passersby. “Those people killed have no idea of what was happening,” Markus said.

A police officer in the area who refused to be named because he was not authorised to speak said seven people were confirmed dead and several others were injured.

Security forces tried to send the youths off the road but they were initially overpowered because of their superior numerical strength. They later succeeded in opening the road and rescuing many passengers.

Our correspondent saw some of the victims brought to the state Criminal Investigation Department and later taken to Jos Central Mosque.

One of the victims with a deep cut on his head, Abdullahi Adamu, 23, said he was attacked while delivering a bus load of vegetables in a J5 bus with registration number SA 455 DAS.

“I was driving towards Akwanga (Nasarawa State) when I noticed a group of youths who were carrying machetes, cutlasses, catapults coming towards us. As soon as I noticed their unfriendly mood I started to reverse my bus, but it was too late, the engine of the bus died completely. But before they arrived where we were, I jumped out of the bus and also told the remaining two passengers to run,” he said.

“I ran until I got exhausted. That was how they pounced on me beating and throwing stones at me, until a mobile policeman came and rescued me. But because they were so many them, the policeman found it very difficult to protect me. Luckily for me a car was brought by some policemen and they took me away and brought me to the state CID office,” he said.

On the two passengers in his bus, Adamu said, “I don’t know whether they are alive or dead because we all ran in different directions.”

Another survivor Alhaji Sani Shuabu said he was on his way from Abuja to Bauchi with three other people to deliver building materials when they were stopped by a group of protesting youths carrying knifes, cudgels and sticks at a junction.

He said the youths started raining insults on them and asked them to alight from the vehicle after which they descended on them, beating them. He said they ran but were pursued by the youths, hauling large stones at them. Shuaibu, who had a deep cut on his wrist and in the back, said he was rescued by two mobile policemen he run into.

Police spokesman ASP Mohammed Lerama confirmed that there was “problem” in the Riyom area, but said he could not speak on the matter yet because state police commissioner had gone to the scene to ascertain the situation.

Assistant Army Public Relations Officer Lt-Colonel Galadima Shekari said troops were on their way to the scene of the incident at the time of filing this report.

State Commissioner of Information Gregory Yenlong said when he heard about the incident he called the Riyom local government chairman to confirm, and was told there was problem. He said the chairman pledged to call him back and brief him over the incident, but was yet to do that as at the time our correspondent called.

AFP news agency reported that the military exhumed seven bodies from fresh, shallow graves in the area. The bodies were buried in three shallow graves in remote forests of Tahoss.

Former minister of state for information and communication, Alhaji Dasuki Ibrahim Nakande, said from the reports he got from members of his community, no less than nine innocent passersby were killed by the Berom youths.

He said Governor Jonah Jang must be held responsible for the killing of innocent persons and must prevailed upon by his colleague governors to own up and take responsibility for the killing since the youths were from his ethnic group.

I weep for Nigeria. Very soon the name Nigeria will be read only in History books.