Wednesday 20 July 2016

Youths protest Plateau monarch’s murder, torch buildings


A detachment of men of the Plateau State Police Command and operatives of the Special Task Force on Security in Jos had a hectic time on Tuesday controlling irate youths who protested the killing of the paramount ruler of the Kulere people in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state, Saf Ron Kulere, Sir Lazarus Agai.

Agai was killed on Monday evening by yet-to-be identified gunmen. Gunmen killed the 76-year-old Saf Ron-Kulere on Monday on his way from his farm in Sha District of the area.



Also killed along with the monarch who ascended the throne of his forefathers in 1972 were his orderly Inspector, Sunday Wuyah, his wife, and his son, Shagari.

The youths, who defied the curfew imposed by the state government, blocked the Bokkos – Barakin Ladi road.

Many homes went up in flames as the youth torched many houses in the area. Smoke bellowed the sky as the protesting youths resisted all entreaties by the police to stop their action.

The youths, who brandished all types of weapons, called on security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous act. They vowed to revenge the death of their traditional ruler.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Mallam Nuru Mohammed, has exonerated Fulani herdsmen from the brutal murder of the traditional ruler.

 Mohammed, who spoke to our correspondent in Jos on Tuesday, said that the notion that the act was carried out by some ‘suspected herdsmen’ had also attracted reprisal as some Fulani herdsmen had come under attack by some of the villagers in Bokkos.

Mohammed said, “We condemn this killing and we are asking security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book. Even if he is my son, he should be made to face the full weight of the law.

“But we have to warn that this idea of attributing every incident to Fulani herdsmen is not healthy for good governance and peaceful co-existence of the diverse ethnic groups in Plateau State. As I am talking to you now, many of my people are being attacked, their houses burnt and cattle carted away.

“There are some people who are not happy with the peace we are enjoying on the Plateau and are bent on frustrating it. The government should look beyond Fulani herdsmen because it is a refrain that we have been accustomed to and which has created some kind of red herring to confuse us from getting to the root of the problem,” he added.

However, reactions have continued to trail the murder of the first class traditional ruler.  A former governor of the state, Jonah Jang, has condoled with the people of Kulere over the gruesome murder of their traditional ruler.

Jang, in a statement signed by his Personal Aide, Mr. Clinton Garuba, said,  “It is with sadness and a grieving heart that the Senator representing Plateau North Senatorial District, Senator Jonah David Jang, received the news of the gruesome murder of the Saf Ron Kulere and Chairman of Bokkos Traditional Council, Sir Lazarus Agai by yet again suspected herdsmen.

The statement added, “This is indeed a painful loss not just to me as a person, the people of Bokkos, or indeed the good people of Plateau but the nation at large, especially that is coming at a time when our dear state is going through a challenging time when his wealth of experience and the core values which he stood for are aptly needed.”

Meanwhile, House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to urgently investigate the murder of a paramount ruler in Plateau State, the Saf Ron Kulere, Sir Lazarus Agai, by suspected herdsmen and bring the suspects to justice.

Lawmakers passed the resolution in a unanimous voice vote in Abuja amid mounting tension at the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.

The 78-year-old first class traditional ruler was the Chairman of Bokkos Traditional Council.

Armed persons were said to have killed him in Sha, on his way home from the farm, on Monday.

The member representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency, Mr. Solomon Bulus-Maren, informed his colleagues that the traditional ruler’s son, daughter in-law, Police orderly and a relation were also murdered by the attackers.

Bokkos is the hometown of a former governor of the state, Chief Joshua Dariye, now a member of the Senate.

Lawmakers passed the motion in a unanimous voice vote to underscore the urgency of the situation.

The development came as the Plateau State caucus at a separate session warned that the state would boil if the killers were not fished out within a reasonable time.

Addressing journalists at the National Assembly, the caucus said while it would appeal to youths back home to remain calm, it would be difficult to hold them for long if there was no action on the part of the Federal Government.

The caucus noted that the killing of the “longest-serving ruler on the Plateau” was one too many and “a clear invitation to war.”

Bulus-Maren, who led the caucus members to the news conference, recalled that the festering herdsmen/farmers’ conflict on the Plateau had claimed a Senator, a member of the House of Representatives and a member of the state House of Assembly in the past, besides thousands of lives of villagers that were lost.

“This killing of the first class traditional ruler is not just a murder but an attempt to erase us from the surface of the earth.

“We will give security agencies one more chance to see what they will do.

“We will continue to appeal to our people to be peaceful and law-abiding as we wait for the needed action by the authorities,” he added.

The caucus backed the clamour for a state police.

Another member from the state, Mr. Timothy Golo, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to personally visit Plateau State and make a statement on what action his administration had taken to address the rising killings in not just the state but other parts of the country.

He said, “Plateau will boil and if it boils, the whole of Nigeria will be affected. The people living in Plateau are not Plateau indigenes alone.

“This case requires more than a presidential spokesman writing a statement as a reaction. The President should visit the state to address this new dimension to the act of terrorism on the Plateau.”

Mr. Edward Pwajok, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who is also from Plateau State, asked why nobody had ever been prosecuted for the killings by supposed “unknown gunmen” in Nigeria.

He added, “Why is Nigeria’s case the way it is? In other countries, arrests are made within 24 hours after an attack.

“In Nigeria, nobody is arrested and there is never any prosecution. This is the time for the Commander-in-Chief to ensure that the security of lives of Nigerians matters.

“The issue of insecurity should be considered as utmost importance by the government.”

In his own reaction to the killing of the ruler, the Chairman, House Committee on the Army, Mr. Rima Shawulu, warned that states like Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa could be wiped out by ‘strangers’ if the Federal Government continued to treat insecurity with levity.

Shawulu noted the latest trend in which ‘foreigners’, who did not seem to speak or understand the Nigerian version of the Hausa/Fulani languages, had taken over Nigerian communities.

He added, “In Benue, indigenes have been chased away and strangers in the name of herdsmen now occupy their ancestral lands.

“These villagers are living in camps in Makurdi and other towns. It is happening in Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa states.

“Buhari should not continue to behave as if the lives of some Nigerians amount to nothing.

“The President has to speak up. Something ought to be done very quickly.”

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