Nigeria: Why Jos May Erupt Again?
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A Glimpse on What Lies Behind the Crisis
By Kamal Badr
Editor-in-Chief, IslamOnline.net
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Jos has witnessed four days of deadly clashes, which left 300 killed. Thousands of desperate Nigerians fled Jos to seek refuge in mosques, churches and camps in neighboring towns.(Reuters Photo)
While it seems that the federal government of Nigeria has succeeded in bringing the Jos crisis under control, the situation remains a matter of concern, both for the Nigerians and the international community.
Just as in similar cases of violence, which hunts Nigeria from time to time, the spate of violence that followed the incident does not augur well for the future of the country, which is known as the giant of Africa.
As most of the perpetrators of the last Sunday bloodletting in Jos are still at large, the helpless victims are left to lick their wounds in the aftermath of a disaster they could have been spared had the government paid enough attention to the crisis.
Who Is to Blame?
Jos carnage comes in the shadow of a deep political crisis with the absence of the president.
Regardless of whether some individuals with religious extremism or tribal motives were responsible for the occurrence of such violence, which has cast its ugly shadow on the country's international image, the government cannot be exonerated from blame.
Actually, the incident of Jos has once again brought to the surface some sort of political missteps and lack of seriousness on the part of government in rising up to the occasion and addressing this issue once and for all.
The crisis also came at a very sensitive time for the country, which is already in a political crisis with the absence of its president, Umaru Yar'Adua, who is believed to have been receiving medical treatment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more than two months now.
This has thrown the country into some kind of a leadership vacuum, though it has been recently filled by Yar'Adua's deputy, Goodluck Jonathan (1). So, it is not strange that some people are blaming this political crisis for the Jos carnage (2).
Now that the situation is a bit calm and there is a call for investigation, the federal government has to show more seriousness and study the roots of this crisis, which has plagued the people of Jos for decades; without this, it will be difficult to reach any tangible solution, no matter how huge the number of military trucks deployed to quell the riots.
Unending Episode of Violence
the occurrence of such carnage and violence indicates flagrant flaws in the country's security system. (Reuters Photo)
Actually, whenever such crises beak out, it is a normal ritual of the government to come out and announce several security measures to quell the violence and assure the Nigerians that such escalation would never reoccur. But the fact that the occurrence of such carnage and violence is witnessed over and over again indicates flagrant flaws in the country's security system.
Without this being fixed, fears will remain that what happened in Jos will eventually ignite the fire of backlash and reprisals in neighboring Nigerian states, like Bauchi, which is known for its volatility when it comes to ethnic or religious tensions.
According to the local Daily Sun, Bauchi is always a ready place for reprisals. Even the Danish cartoon and Miss World crises generated reprisals there, not to mention Jos, which is close (3).
Why Jos?
Jos is in the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south. In Jos, religion and race interplay.
Why the government has to take the crisis of Jos seriously lies in the fact that the city is not only a place in one of the most populous regions in Nigeria, but also the country's prime tourist destination with its glamorous beauty and alluring landscape, which attract visitors from across the globe.
Proper attention is needed here because the city is actually a strategic area in Nigeria: It serves as a meeting point between the northern part of the country, which has a Muslim majority, and the southern part, which has a Christian majority.
The city itself is also divided by a religious line. It has Muslims and Christians living in semi-segregated areas. The Muslims are Hausa-Fulani people and are regarded as settlers, though they have been living in the city for decades.
The land owners are the Berom (or Birom) people, who are viewed as a minority ethnic group in Jos. Given the fact that they are concentrated mostly in Jos North alongside of the Hausa-Fulani people, ethnic tension escalates.
So, what complicates the problem in Jos is also the system of classifying the people into settlers and natives, for this weakens the sense of unity, which is supposed to protect the fabric of any civilized society.
There have been several complaints from the Berom people that they are constantly being discriminated against by the government in favor of the Hausa-Fulani people. This means that struggle to have access to power and land resources might also lie at the roots of the crisis.
Settlers Vs. Indigenes
Thus, consigning a large portion of society into the status of "strangers" (regardless of the fact that some of these people might be first- or second-generation descendants of the early settlers) will definitely create a situation of constitutional imbalance, as one analyst put it.
The adverse consequence of this segregation is rendering these so-called strangers disenfranchised both politically and economically (4).
Now, the question on the lips of everyone concerned with the affairs of Nigeria is, when is this going to stop?
Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has been at the center of both the religious and political feuds that have plagued the country for years. Similar violence erupted in the city in 1994, 2001, and 2008.
Although Western media have rushed to portray these incidents of violence as a Muslim-Christian religious conflict, most of these incidents have roots in political causes, especially when one realizes that the 2008 riot had a lot to do with a disputed election that involved political parties vying for the state.
But this does not take religion away: In fact, it is quite amazing that any riot in this part of Nigeria transforms from political into religious, and this shows the great impact that religion has on shaping the discourse of integration in the city.
Coupling with this fact is the issue of Boko Haram, which took the whole nation by storm last year when an Islamic group declared a self-proclaimed Jihad against the whole country. The clash began in the nearby Bauchi State, and hundreds of people were killed before the violence sporadically spilled over into Yobe.
That bloody incident is enough to echo a sense of fear in the minds of people whenever religious or sectarian violence breaks out in the North. In fact, some people have already started pointing to a foreign element that may be behind the Jos mayhem; some even went to extremes and claimed that the crisis has the fingerprint of some groups in the Middle East.
The Search for Unity
Government should fulfill its obligations under the constitution to achieve national integration.
What this actually shows is a deep sense of division among the people of the city, who are supposed to be living together in harmony. Therefore, it is believed that the subject of integration should not be ruled out if there is a serious attempt to solve the crisis.
The reason for this is that in any situation where a segment of society is classified into settlers and natives, the government needs to work hard to forge unity and solidarity among all citizens. This will help create an atmosphere where the so-called settlers would integrate properly and live in harmony with the rest of society.
What buttresses the argument of the necessity of looking into the issue of integration is that the 1999 constitution itself lays strong emphasis on this. Article 15(2) states,
"National integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited".
To promote such national integration, the constitution also makes it an obligation upon the government to "(a) provide adequate facilities for and encourage free mobility of people, goods and services throughout the Federation. (b) secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation. (c) encourage inter-marriage among persons from different places of origin, or of different religious, ethnic or linguistic association or ties."
The government should also work hard to "foster a feeling of belonging and of involvement among the various people of the Federation, to the extent that loyalty to the nation shall override sectional loyalties" (5).
The above-mentioned strategy should be the government's policy in Jos and other Nigerian cities that are also structured along the "settlers-natives" line, like Warri, Ife, and Modakeke in southwestern Nigeria.
The federal government should also learn from other countries with similar experiences, as some analysts have advised. One can recall here countries like Rwanda and Fiji, which have a similar pattern of sectarian strife that wreaked havoc in the two nations and resulted in a large number of human casualties.
In a nutshell, what remains for the government is to dig down to the core of the problem, sit down with all the parties involved, engage the elders in the city in any peace initiative, and most importantly rise up to people's expectations and preserve their rights enshrined in the constitution. Hopefully this will pave the way for an eternal, peaceful solution to the age-old crisis.
Sources:
1. Goodenough, Patrick. "Nigeria's Religious Violence Comes Amid Political Crisis." CNSNews.com. 20 Jan. 2010. Accessed 26 Jan. 2010.
2. "Power Vacuum Responsible for Jos Mayhem." Punch on the Web. 20 Jan. 2010. Accessed 26 Jan. 2010.
3. Orude, Paul. "Jos Mayhem: Fears of Reprisal Attacks Heightens Tension in Bauchi." Daily Sun. 25 Jan. 2010. Accessed 26 Jan. 2010.
4. "Nigeria: Jos - One Riot Too Many." AllAfrica.com. 22 Jan. 2010. Accessed 26 Jan. 2010.
5. International Centre for Nigerian Law. "Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria — 1999." Nigeria-Law.org. 24 Jan. 2009. Accessed 26 Jan. 2010.
Kamal Badr is the the Editor-in-Chief of IslamOnline.net’s English Web site.
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