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EDITORIAL

The Jos Carnage

The mere thinking of the unimaginable barbarity of the recent happening in Jos, the capital of Plateau state is sickening, to say the list. One would have imagined that the sheer fact that this types of eruptions are not new to Nigeria, not to talk of Plateau State would make any next one less gory as people learn from past experiences and come to understand with time, and with increasing awareness and exposure, that life is for all of us to leave, each to his or her fullest as God almighty has ordained. To the contrary, with each reoccurrence, the degree of barbarism is increasing, and the last one especially epitomizes the peak of irresponsibility and inhumanity.

The sight of yet to be determined number of people that were thrown into numerous wells after being subjected to undoubtedly the most painful death has shown that, till date some people are still living in the yesteryears of daily violence and acrimony between neighboring communities on account of the most flimsy excuse. How on earth could someone look at a person who has leaved for hundreds of years in a certain locality as a stranger? If this is the case, then everybody would be a stranger anywhere he is as we have never heard of a place where people spring up from under the ground as the plants do. Everybody was sometime in the past, a stranger in the place he now considers his or her place of origin. If he is not the stranger, his father, grand Father or great grand Father or mother was. Would it also be fair then if all Jos people are sought after in every place throughout the country or the world at large, and then sent parking or even killed as is their practice, just because they are not originally from there?

Pointer Express believes that, there is more than meets the eye in this oft repeated massacre and government had better come clean on this, otherwise when the chips are down and this becomes the norm everywhere in the country, there would be no any country called Nigeria in which they would continue what they know how to do best, stealing the resource of the people and creating enmity between them so they could not wake up to their heinous crimes and confront them head on.

The only way this can be done by government to reassure people of their security is by quickly investigating this carnage thoroughly, timely and professionally to find the perpetrators and punish them severely for everyone to see and take the lesson home. One wonders why such measures as installing surveillance cameras throughout the state cannot be tried, expensive as it may be, if the desired results could be obtained. If this is done, it would not be difficult to catch the warlords in action, leading to their prosecution. If all those who participated in the earlier disturbances were treated like the criminals they are, we believe the reoccurrences of the carnage would have been reduced, if not eliminated completely.

We also believe that the Hausa-Fulani community in Jos ought to find some way of dealing with this issue instead of just sitting down there waiting to be massacred every now and then. As soon as these things start, wherever they are, they should organize themselves in groups around their enclaves, with any legal means of defense humanly possible, not to attack anyone, but to defend themselves from the inhuman acts of the beasts in their midst. This is better than everyone trying to find somewhere to hide which leaves many women, children, weak and the sick unprotected with the resultant consequences we are now witnessing. This, the Muslims must do whether there is understanding with their non-Muslims neighbors or not, on the cessation of animosity, because sometimes, like it happened now, those who would come attacking may not be from that locality.

Allah (SWT) has enjoined the believers not to relax on their state of preparedness, lest the rogues attack them from where they know not. The Qur,an says: “….those who disbelieve wish that you would neglect your weapons and your baggage so they could come down upon you in one (single) attack. But there is no blame upon you, if you are troubled by rain or ill, for putting down your arms, but take precaution. Indeed Allah has prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment” 4:102.

One of the biggest problems the Muslims are facing anywhere is lack of leadership that would steer their affairs. The enemies of Islam have penetrated their ranks and saw enmity between them to the extent that some groups see to tolerate other peoples understandings; this is quite unfortunate. Still where ever the Muslims are, no matter their number they are suppose to choose a leader with all the pre-requisite qualities so that they can have focus on issues. This way Allah (SWT) may shower His Rahma over them.

The other side of the conflict, in fact, the principal actors who relish themselves in killing innocent souls, including children, should take a step backward and look at things from an informed point of view, and try to see beyond their nose. They should leave and let leave, otherwise the natural law is that what goes round, comes round. A stitch in time, they say saves nine. A good example abides in our present world. Obama, who is now the president of United States has his origin in Kenya, here, at our backyard. Yet he lived in America and believed he is one of them, they take him for that and judge him in terms of what he can do to improve the whole community, rather than what he looks like, his religion, or where the hell (or is it heaven ?) he came from.

May Allah protect us. Amin

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