From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja
Berom elders led by the Gbong Gwom Jos, Gyang have requested that government implement all reports on the Plateau crisis. But for the Hausa/Fulani elders, they are requesting that only the reports of Federal Government panels be implemented, especially that of Gen. Abisoye and Chief Solomon Lar Commission of Inquiry.
They argued that those set up by Plateau State Government had lost contemporary relevance and were sub-judice. President Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday night met with the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group, in a bid to give both sides fair hearing and in a renewed effort to restore peace to the crisis-ravaged Plateau State,
The monarch had on Monday night met with the Berom natives led by the Gbong Gwom Jos, Jacob Buba Gyang. The meeting, which took place at the first lady’s conference room at the State House, started about 10pm and went on till 1:00a.m. Thursday morning. Both groups were expected to submit separate reports to the state government before a general meeting of the two communities with the President on a later date yet to be fixed. Representatives of Hausa/Fulani group, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, former Minister of State for Information and Communication and representative of Fulani and Protem National Secretary,
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari spoke to State House Correspondents after the meeting with President Jonathan. Nakande said: “We are here on the invitation of Mr. President. The president has taken so many initiatives and again this is another initiative towards finding lasting solution to the protracted crisis in Plateau State but specifically within the Jos axis, that is within Jos North, South Local Governments.
“The discussion was on the way forward, how best to tackle the crisis in such a way to enhance tolerance, accommodation and respect for one another so that at the end of it,” all the conflicts would have been put behind us. We also discussed the mechanisms which government will help to put in place so that each time there are conflicts, ways and means of resolving the conflicts amicably would have been used to resolve them.”
On some of the recommendations made to President, Nakande said: “The issue is to discuss with the President and between the information available to government and what we have brought forward, government will look at it, decipher it. Further meetings will be held with other communities that are in conflict so that we can jointly find lasting solution to the problem.”
On implementation of various Judicial Commission of Inquiry recommendations he said, “We discuss that and agreed to a larger extent, most of the commission of Inquiries especially those set up by Plateau State Government. We said all those commissions of Inquiry have lost contemporary relevance but we are confident that the one set up by Federal Government, especially the General Abisoye report as well as the advisory committee on Jos crisis headed by Solomon Lar, we are comfortable with that but the rest are infact subjudice and therefore cannot be implemented” On his part the Fulani representative wants the issue of natives and settlers trashed once and for all.
The Fulanis also want the Federal Government help resolve conflict between Cattle Rearers and farmers, which has been at the centre of the crisis. “We have appealed to Mr. President to address this issue. The cattle Rearers in Plateau State especially problem areas like Jos South, Barikin Ladi and Bassa, the Federal Government should try and ensure that the conflicts are resolved, it is because we have the grazing reserves in those areas and with the grazing reserves, there is conflict between Cattle Rearers and farmers but with intervention of government, it will be reduced to a minimum level, and when that is done, we are sure that the issue of people alleging reprisal attack will be reduced also.
“Once those the flashpoints are addressed, the issue of saying that some people are regarded as not belonging as if they just sprang from another planet and landed where they are issues that should also be looked into, we have given the history of the Cattle Rearers, it is not as if they came from somewhere else, they are as indigenous as any other people, only because of their occupational hazards which is cattle rearing and they are nomadic and they have to move from one place to another.
“So you find a Fulani man who has been in Plateau State for 7 million years or 7,000 years, he is still within Plateau but every year on seasonal basis, let’s say the dry season or rainy season, he moves from one place to the other, he does not settle in one place because he does not have the luxury of staying in one place because he has cattles to look after and these cattles need pasture and when this pasture dries up somewhere, he moves to another place it is green. “That does not mean that because he cannot stay in one place based on his occupational hazard, you say that he is a settler or he does not belong there.”
On the way forward, he said dialogue with both parties would bring about the required peace and harmony citing the case of Benue where such has been done with result. He said, “We have tried to solve the problem like it was done in Benue State where there was similar crisis because the governor took personal interest in the matter, we are appealing to governor of Plateau State to copy from the governors of Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Kaduna.
“They succeeded by calling the leadership of the two groups and at the end of the day, the matter was settled. “In Plateau State, the problem has been that there is nobody forthcoming either from the traditional institution or the government say let’s sit and discuss.” He however said he was of the opinion that the Presidential intervention will bring an end to the incessant crisis.
“Yes, with this Presidential intervention, from the way the President has given us time and the way he listened to us like children listening to their father, u know that when you see your father in a pensive mood, you know that the matter must have touched him so much,” he said.
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