By Masara Kim
[Jos] A Nigerian Senate leader accused the army of bias after six residents were arrested in Plateau State for allegedly killing a Fulani leader, sparking mass protests.
“The military speaks from both sides of the mouth,” said Senator Simon Mwadkwon, the Senate Minority Leader to TruthNigeria. They are never just and fair to all,” said Mwadkwon who represents a district in Plateau State.
The Fulani, a subset of the majority-Muslim ethnic group claiming over 10 million members in Nigeria is responsible for six times the deaths by Boko Haram according to Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), an international nonprofit in the United Kingdom. Intersociety, an international nonprofit that tracks violent crimes in Nigeria documented more than 2,500 Christian deaths by the militant faction of the chiefly herding tribe in the first half of this year alone, with more than 502 deaths occurring in Plateau State alone. Fulani militants killed more than 350 residents in armed attacks spanning days in the Mangu county from 16 May according to town leaders.
As of September 28, at least 25 residents have been killed by Fulani militants since the eve of a solemn memorial for victims of a terrorists attack in the United States, TruthNigeria has learned. Between September 25-27, four people were killed in the latest sting of attacks on the outskirts of Jos two days after the military reportedly arrested six residents for the alleged killing of Mr. Adam Idris Gabdo, the leader of a Fulani community in Mangu.
Police say they have no evidence Mr. Gabdo was killed, but he went missing on Sunday, September 24.
The army has insisted the leader of the Fulani residents in the Panyam district, 50 miles southeast of the capital city of Jos was killed by local residents and has demanded accountability from town leaders.
Women Wave Branches and Sing for 12 hours
A crowd of women on September 27 staged a mass protest in Panyam town in the east of Mangu County to demand the release of the detained residents. As the women protested unfair treatment of the non-Muslim community, one person was killed 52 miles away in the Bassa county, according to Stefanos foundation.
The victim was ambushed and killed near Kpatnavie, Jebbu Miango town, 25 miles west of Jos around 7:30 pm local time while returning from church service in a nearby village, wrote Stefanos foundation which tracks Christian persecution in Nigeria.
The incident occurred mere feet away from the scene of a brutal farm attack the previous day in nearby Maraban Tipa village, where another farmer was left for dead, Stefanos reported on its Facebook page. Also on September 25, three people were killed in three villages 12 miles apart in the south of Jos including in Panyam town in Mangu. One person was killed in ambush close to the town of Machambe, located in the Butura district of Bokkos county, according to town leaders.
Around the same hour of the attack at 1:30 pm local time, two residents were killed in separate assaults 12 miles away in the neighboring Mangu county according to Lawrence Kyaharshik, the spokesman for a local development association.
One resident was killed in his farm near the town of Pushit, while another was ambushed close to the town of Panyam, in Mangu County, said Kyaharshik to TruthNigeria.
Parity of Prosecution Demanded
At the time, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff was having a meeting with town leaders in Mangu over the alleged killing of Mr. Adamu Idris Gabdo, the leader of a Fulani community in the area.
General Lagbaja was totally silent on the ongoing attacks in surrounding Christian villages and ordered the arrest of six residents over the so-called killing of Mr. Gabdo , according to locals, sparking a women protest the following two days.
On 27 and 28 September, hundreds of women blocked roads in the longest protest yet against what Kyaharshik described as military bias for the Fulani.
Witnesses tell TruthNigeria the protestors comprising chiefly displaced residents sheltering in makeshift camps in Mangu, waved branches and sang gospel songs for 12 hours daily, demanding the release of the detainees.
TruthNigeria could not confirm the arrests as text messages to the spokesman for the Army in Jos, Captain James Oya and that of the Police, Superintendent of Police Alfred Alabo were not answered.
But General Lagbaja had during his meeting with tribal leaders in Panyam on 26 September declared the arrest of the so-called killers of Mr. Gabdo, the leader of the Fulani in Panyam was top priority. “This is a task we must accomplish,” said Lagbaja according to The Cable.
“My men and I have not been sleeping because of this,” said the Army chief who was represented by the Commander of a special military Task Force in Plateau State known as Operation Safe Haven, Major General Abdusalam Abubakar. “This is an act of criminality, and we will ensure that we bring the criminals to justice, or we bring justice to them,” he said, ordering the town leaders to produce the perpetrators within 48hours.
His reaction has compelled the demand for similar probe of Christian murders in the State.
“I am not justifying the killing of the Fulani leader,” said Mwadkwon in a telephone interview. “It is barbaric, it is a dastardly act and I condemn it in its totality. But I expect the military to apply the same energy on every incident and not take sides in the face of widespread violations,” Mwadkwon said, recalling similar murders of at least ten ranking Christian mayors that were previously ignored by the army.
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Masara Kim is an award winning conflict reporter in Jos, Nigeria, and senior Editor of TruthNigeria.
