Jos Violence: Blame Army For Not Acting On My Report- Jang

San Francisco March 09, (THEWILL) – The 82nd Division of the Nigerian army in Jos, Plateau State should be held liable for Sunday’s sectarian killings and destruction of properties in three villages in Jos South Local Government.

Plateau State Governor, Jonah John Jang blamed the army for failing to act on the intelligence report he made available on Saturday that would have saved over 500 lives lost that Sunday morning.

Fielding questions from State House Correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa Abuja, the governor said he received intelligence reports at about 9.0 p.m. on Saturday evening that some people with arms were seen around villages raided and he promptly alerted the commander of the 82 division of the army.

Jang said the commanders assured him that the army would investigate further and deploy troops to the area to forestall any violence but to his surprise when he received messages from victims that they were being attacked, all attempts to reach the commanders through their telephones were futile.

"We know that what happened was that some people came across the border of Plateau State and started attacking villages, because nobody within Plateau got to these villages and started attacking them.

"I received reports at about 9.0 p.m. on the evening that some movement of people with arms were seen around those villages, and I reported to the commander of the army and he told me he was going to move some troops there, and because it is near where I live, I even saw a tank pass through my house and I thought it was going towards that area.

"Three hours or so later, I was woken by a call that they have started burning the villages and people were being hacked to death and I started trying to locate the commanders but I couldn’t get any of them on the telephone. It could have been avoided if they acted on my report," the governor said.

Asked about his line of action, Jang said, ” You are asking what am I doing, I have said it several times, state governors are highly incapacitated. You are the chief security officer of a state, you don’t command even a fly. What do you use to stop anything?

"The security report that I gave, I didn’t even get that security report officially; it was the villagers themselves that saw the movements and reported. I didn’t receive any security report about what was going to happen.

"So the security people should have to double up their efforts, particularly the army that said they have now taken over security in Plateau State because the police are unable to cope. I expect that the army should live up to expectations and stop the carnage in Plateau, if they cannot, then they should as well get out of the place."

In Jang’s opinion, the attack was an isolated one which had no relationship whatsoever with an earlier attack in Kurujenta on January 17, 2010.

"To the best of my knowledge what happened in Kurujenta I don’t think Fulanis were involved for what happened in Kurujenta. If you look at the houses that were burnt in Kurujenta, Kurujenta is a tin-mining camp, and houses burnt there, I mean everybody who lived there was involved.

"You could not say it was one-sided because the houses that were burnt cut-across, which means the killings were cut-across. But what happened there, some people moved Aljazeera there, and then covered dead bodies and start labeling them.

"When you cover dead bodies and start labeling them, who knew who you are covering? And then today Daily Trust was saying it was because of what happened in Kurujenta, because Fulanis were killed in Kurujenta. Fulanis don’t live in Kurujenta," he explained.