Yes, Jos, Plateau State is calm. When the fire was raging it was news. Of course horrible and sensational news usually grabs the headlines of major national dailies, not only in Nigeria but across the globe. In the years preceding the Lalong administration in Plateau State, for almost a decade, Jos was always making the headlines of virtually all the national dailies as a result of frequent clashes between the natives and the perceived settlers, while the consequences were largely fatal, in terms of lives and property.
At that time, all the top columnists temporarily focused their writings on the crises in Jos. Now the pens are down, perhaps because Jos is quiet and calm. Yes, Jos is calm, but the pens need to be activated, at least to identify and commend the leadership in the state which made it possible for Jos to be so quiet and calm, because it takes only a leadership that is transparent, just, accountable and rises above primordial instincts and identities to be able to bring about peace and security in its true substance. When a leader fails to separate two primordial instincts – ethnicity and religion from governance, then anarchy and retardation would surely become the order in his enclave, as witnessed in the recent past in the Jos. However, Governor Lalong has proved to be an exemption. Since assumption of office on May 29, 2015, he has not left anyone in doubt that he came with a vision to dismantle all the structures of prejudice, bigotry and disunity erected on the Plateau over the years.
It is so glaring that past administrations in the state had attempted on the surface to improve the security situation in the state, but the difference is that Governor Lalong is making spirited and genuine efforts towards addressing the longstanding grievances of the various communities concerned, particularly the issue of indigeneship, which is the root cause of many of these conflicts and belligerency especially in Jos North Local Government Area, where the Hausa community and the indigenes have been at loggerhead for years, over who controls the local government.
Jos, the capital of Plateau State, is an important city, a creation of the colonial masters, the Europeans who brought people from across the country to work in the mining fields. This explains why all the ethnic nationalities of Nigeria can be found in Jos. Little wonder, therefore, it is called mini-Nigeria! It is home of the first international airport in West Africa. The first major convention of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) led by the late Sir, Ahmadu Bello (Saradauna) was held in Jos in December 1950, it was in Jos the late Mallam Aminu Kano formed his Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) in 1950. In the same vein, other major national political decisions were taken in Jos, for obvious reasons. The late M.K.O Abiola and former President Olusegun Obasanjo all picked their mandate to represent their political parties, SDP and PDP respectively, in Jos, etc.
In the good old days, the Urhobo, Ijaw, Yoruba and Hausa, have all represented the state in the parliament, not minding whether they were indigenes or not. The people in Jos were all seen as one family. For example, when Inua Ali, an Hausa man, defeated the late Hanatu Chelong (Berom), an indigene, to represent Jos in the Northern parliament, she removed his cap and put on her headgear to amuse the people around. She jokingly admonished him, “Are you happy that you have defeated a woman?” That was how the people lived in harmony in the good old days, in Jos city. These are the good old days, Governor Lalong is poised to reenact through his policy of inclusiveness. So far, in his appointments he has ensured that all shades of opinion and interest are represented; he is the first governor to appoint the so-called non-indigenes into cabinet positions in the state, ironically even the most contentious Jos-North LGC has as a so-called non-indigene as secretary. Lalong knew that a city with the status of Jos-North is so heterogeneous and cosmopolitan and as such it cannot be governed to achieve the desired development, except the leader jettisons primordial instincts of religion and ethnicity. Jos is like America, when the Europeans came, they met the “Red Indians (who are the real indigenes) but the influx of people into America made America to be what it is today, while the status of the Red Indians still remains, with their culture intact, nobody, not even Barrack Obama, whose grandparents came from Kenya has taken anything out of America. By his actions, Lalong is inclined to create another America in Nigeria.
Without the presence of soldiers on the streets, without commissions and panels of inquiries Lalong has striven to bring stability, peace and harmony to the hitherto troubled Jos- Plateau, through Justice, equity and good governance. I rest my case for now.
Happy New Year to you.
Mohammed Isa Bilal,
Director Royal Publicity Publishing Company Jos, and general secretary Newspapers Distributors Association of Nigeria (NDAN). Plateau State Chapter. No. 8 Shendam Street, Jos 08167989085
