Salaam. I started this write up some few months back and was posting it in installment. I posted two and I had to stop due to certain engagements. Now here is the full piece: JASAWA AND 2015 The 2015 General Election is at hand ga mai yawan rai. It will not be too early to start planning towards it. All serious politicians and even some electorates are already doing so. It will not be out of place for us Jasawa to do so as well. The aim of this little piece is to attempt to bring out some salient but critical issues that should concern our political well-being as a unique community that has been suffering from political marginalization and victimization. I am writing as a Bajashe, full Bajashe, born, grew up, educated and based in Jos all my life. I am not writing as “Governor Jonah Jang’s Boy” (SSA to the Governor on Community Relation). Though some facts I ll relate here could be facts I came across by the privilege of that appointment, which was rejected in toto ab initio, but accepted by some that are objective and think rightly. I therefore wish only the points I raised here would be debated not my person please. In my attempt to view our political culture as a community I will review our past starting from 1979 civilian rule. I was not active politically at that time but old enough to follow things. During that dispensation, the ruling party at the Federal level was the NPN while Plateau State went for the NPP seen at that time largely as a South-East party (Igbos party). In that period the discrimination against us as a community was not as fierce as it is obtained now. Yet, only few members of our community were in NPP and were seen as outcast. The result of that political calculation was that we ended up with few or none presence of State Govt’s development projects in our Community. We only looked up to the Federal Govt for such projects which only came in trickles. During the botched IBB political experiment, we went with the NRC while the rest of Plateau State went for the SDP and Mr. Fidelis Tapgun became the state governor under the SDP. During his short reign our political marginalization intensified and the near absence of developmental projects in our community continued. Luckily, we formed the Jos North Local Govt Council under Hon Samaila A. Mohammed. His presence there helped to cushion the effect of the neglect we suffered. At the same time only few members of our community were in the SDP and they were seen as outcasts (Munafukai). When late General Abacha came to power and set up the PTF, we were able to benefit from some of the PTF projects. Most of the present dilapidated roads in our streets were done by the PTF almost 20 years ago. When we returned to another civilian rule in 1999, both the Federal and state governments were under the PDP. However our community elected to go with the APP (later ANPP). Thus during Joshua Dariye’s government we benefited with nothing as a community in terms of developmental projects. Suffice to mention that when Danladi Atu was the imposed Chairman of Jos North he set up Garba Daho Model Primary School. At the same time, when Dariye was impeached and Late Botmang was in power the old man refurbished Bauchi Road for us. In the same dispensation, during the 2007 election which brought the present government under Jang, our community maintained our political tradition of going against the government party in the state. THE FIRST COMING OF JANG (2007 TO 2011) Like pointed above, we voted for Senator Victor Lar during the 2007 election. In that election the Council of Ulama endorsed Senator Victor Lar. We, as usual followed the Council’s decision massively. However, it appears the Tarok-Wase imbroglio prevented some Muslims from the southern zone from voting for Lar. So Jang won. Indications are now becoming clearer that Jang attempted to win over our community to his side by ensuring that one of ours is made the number FOUR citizen in the State hierarchy – Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan was the Deputy Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly. In appreciation some key members our community organized and hosted a Thank-You dinner for the Governor. That moment ought to be the cornerstone for our political emancipation and change for the better. Alas! The contrary was the case. Things began to happen fast. Some segment of our political leaders took us further apart rather than exploiting the little opening mentioned here to negotiate with the State government concerning our needs. It is important to note that sometimes in 2004 after the Plateau Peace Conference mentored by the Military Administrator Chris Alli, there was a move by the Jasawa to challenge the outcome of the Peace Conference that says Jasawa are not indigenes of Jos in court. I was part of the move as one of the lawyers involved in preparing grounds for the case. However, some logistical problems, principally lack of funds stalled filing the case. Few weeks after the honour-dinner of the Governor by our leaders, some part of our political leaders exhumed the planned case, funded it and it went to court. The governor became annoyed. He decided to look at our community as ingrates. Thus the war line drawn. The step we missed at that critical point in time was the opportunity to open up dialogue and sought for a political solution to our problems in view of the fact that the government was new and it had extended the first gesture of friendship. While the case was pending, the 2008 Local Government Election came up. The horrific result that followed need not be revisited here. The gap between Jang and his government and our community became wider. I could remember the then Secretary to the Plateau State Government Bukar Bello telling us that we should not expect any development in our communities because we did not vote for the government. However, towards the last period of Jang’s first tenure, certain changes occurred which included replacing the former SSG and appointing Professor Best as the Adviser to the Governor on Peace Building. Professor Best is a seasoned peace worker. I had personal contact with Professor Best on how to reconcile the Plateau State Government with our communities and bury the hatchets. His ideas were lofty and apparently sincere towards our communities. This gentleman is still of the believes that a Peaceful Jos is a Peaceful Plateau. However the reconciliatory move was put on hold as the general election was fast approaching. I remember he told me that any move from the government would be viewed as part of political campaign. So during the 2011 election, we again voted for the main opposition party (the Labour Party) with Dame Pauline Tallen as the party’s flag bearer. She lost and Jang won again. As fate will have it, Professor S. G. Best was elevated to become the Secretary to the State Government with obvious powers larger than what he had as an Adviser on Peace. Our reconciliatory plan resumed. When Professor Shedrack Best became the SSG, part of his assignment was/is to ensure the restoration of peace in Jos and the State at large. As I stated earlier on, there was a contact between the new SSG and my humble self. The SSG contacted me again on the best ways to follow in restoring peace in Jos. Thus, we constituted a team of seven-man think tank committee that drawn up a peace plan for Jos in particular and Plateau State at large. Unfortunately at the implementation stage the SSG met with some stumbling blocks. It was natural that some few in government and outside government benefit from the lack of peace and understanding in Jos. Those elements felt threatened and they made several efforts to truncate the peace move. The Peace Plan went into limbo. The SSG continued his best and won the favour of the governor subsequently who endorsed his peace plan. The following moves were made from the part of the State Government: (1) The SSG wrote a letter to the Council of Ulama requesting for an audience principally to do the followings: (a) Condole and sympathize with the Muslim community in Jos and Plateau State at large over the lost of lives and properties during the 2008 and 2010 crisis on behalf of the Plateau state government. (b) To promise the Council never to allow any crisis to happen in Jos by ensuring the government does all within its powers. (c) To hear complains of the Muslims through the Council. This letter was written in early 2012. However, this offer was rejected by our leaders using their best judgment. To be fair, it should be mentioned that some leaders and members of the Council were of the view that the audience requested by the SSG should be given to him and the Council should just listen to him and take a decision thereafter. However some threatened to walk out of the Council if such audience was given. To keep the Council intact, the request was rejected. (2) The state government continued with its efforts to open up a door of reconciliation between it and the Muslims (most especially Jasawa) in Jos. It created an office of a Special Adviser on Islamic Matters and one of us from Jos was given the position. (3) When there was a flood disaster in Jos which affected only Muslim areas, the governor personally visited the displaced persons at Rikkos Jos. During that visit he openly informed the Muslims and Jasawa leadership there that he will never allow any fresh crisis in Jos throughout the remain of his tenure. (4) After that visit, the governor kept looking for means to reach out to our community with a view to reaching an amicable reconciliation and forging ahead. (5) The government appointed the Chairman of the Council of Ulama and the Chief Imam of Jos as the Amirul Hajj of that year. The Chief Imam did not accept the appointment until the Council of Ulama endorsed it and advised that he accept it. (6) In the same year, my humble self was appointed as a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Relations. (7) The government also requested for list of our dilapidated township roads and promised to repair some within its limited time left for it in office. It started with the Yan Doya-Gangare-Rikkos axis. (8) The government however pointed out the followings facts which they see as political miscalculation from our part Jasawa: (a) That truly we have the numerical strength. But we are not numerically strong enough to win the seat of a governor in the state. (b) That in politics population ought to count especially in bringing development to the community that commands high number of votes as ours. (c) That from 1979 to date our Jasawa community have been misplacing our votes which makes it inconsequential and therefore a waste. (d) That some politicians have succeeded in creating and instilling fears in the other Plateau tribes especially those that are not Muslims that Hausa/Muslims only want to dominate them again, subject them into another kind of slavery and Islamize the state. Thus most of them don’t trust the Hausa/Muslims. (e) That our political culture as highlighted above was being used to confirm their fears thereby heightening suspicion and contempt. (f) That truly there are policies on ground that are anti-Hausa especially Jasawa being implemented by the Plateau state government. The policy did not start with Jang administration and may not necessarily end after his administration. (g) That however, policies are man-made. They can be changed. (h) That a shift in our political culture may lead to the shift or total change on that anti-Jasawa policies. THE WAY FORWARD: I have a one-on-one discussion with some key Jasawa political actors on the above with a view to fashioning a way out. Those I discussed with are unanimous on the followings as a way forward: 1. That there is a need to rethink our political strategy and put things into perspective with a view to ultimately effecting changes in line with the realities on ground. Such realities include the fact that Plateau of today is different from the Plateau of our fathers; and that Jos is growing rapidly becoming more and more cosmopolitan. 2. That in the next election we should avoid wasting our votes on unviable or ineffective opposition parties as far as politics in the State is concern. Rather, we should vote for whoever the voting trend in the state supports. Doing this will lessen our predicament by neutralizing our potential enemies politically. 3. That we may decide to be silent with our demands because they are obvious and simply vote. Whoever wins and knowing that we voted for him will find it hard to go against us as if we didn’t vote for him. 4. That winning back our political rights requires patience, tactics and consistency. 5. That we should remember our rights were never snatched away from us in a day. It was done gradually through slow but sure policies some without even our knowledge. 6. That it will be foolhardy for us to insist on getting back those snatched political rights in a day or two. 7. That we need to get involved in the political activities in the state like any other state citizens without any fear, real or imaginary, of victimization. CONCLUSION I think we owe our community a duty to guide them appropriately. Let us use our votes wisely.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 12:46:38 +0000
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