20100121
allafrica

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has warned all political and religious leaders to stop inflaming the sectarian crisis in Plateau State with their utterances and conduct or face the wrath of the law.

Jonathan reiterated in a broadcast on Thursday night that he had directed the security agencies to quash the mayhem, restore order, and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators and sponsors.

"The security forces have the overwhelming mandate of the Federal Government to arrest the situation urgently. I use this occasion to warn all ethnic, political, and religious and opinion leaders in Plateau State and nationwide to desist forthwith from further inflaming the situation," he said.

"The security agencies have been directed to place any such persons under close watch. Those found to have engineered, encouraged or fanned the embers of this crisis, through their actions or pronouncements, will be arrested and speedily brought to justice."

Jonathan added that the government will not allow any one hide under the canopy of group action to evade justice, because crime, in all its gravity, is an individual responsibility, not a communal affair.

"The Federal Government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators of this crime, no matter how highly placed."

He described the situation in Jos as "sheer wickedness and man's inhumanity to man, and there is absolutely no justification for this."

He assured that, "The government will not fold its hands while fellow citizens are brutalised and murdered at will.

"Such acts in a plural society such as ours, are sinful, both in the eyes of God and man. We shall not condone them. The government will confront these ugly developments with all the might and resources at its disposal. Of this, there must be no doubt."

Before the broadcast, news broke that hoodlums in Jos had turned their violence on non indigenes, including Yoruba Community President, Tonye Ogunshiyi, Igbo Democratic Forum leader, and Chidi Ndu, Oba of Yoruba in Jos, Solomon Olugbinde.

Ogunshiyi and Olugbinde were returning from the NDLEA Regional Academy in Rikkos, where they supplied food materials to over 400 Yoruba taking refuge.

Hausa youths with dangerous weapons chanting stopped Ogunshiyi and Olugbinde and asked them to shout Alahu Akbaru (God is great). They refused, and got attacked. Both escaped with injuries.

Ndu also narrowly escaped death when his Hausa/Fulani neighbours launched attack on him.

He has been critical of the youths since they burnt down his home and two cars.

Ndu lamented that the youths cause havoc because they are given cover by soldiers, noting that those who burnt his house work freely on the streets.

However, Jos North Muslim Ummah Spokesman, Mohammed Mudi has condemned the break down of law and order, which he said was sparked by the refusal of Christians to allow a Muslim, Kabiru Mohammed, to rebuild his house that was burnt in the disturbances on November 28, 2008.

General overseer of EBOMI Prayer City , Isah el-Buba, countered by asking the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Abdulraham Dambazau, to withdraw the soldiers on the streets and allow Air Force and police personnel to provide security.

He said some soldiers have become part of the problem by killing and maiming innocent residents.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar expressed concern about the conflict and urged Abuja and the Plateau State Government to take a decisive action to halt it.

"Considering all the wrong things that are going on in the country, the latest crisis in Plateau State could not have come at a worse time for Nigeria. We must do everything humanly possible not to allow it to spiral out of control," Atiku warned in a statement.

The United States and European countries asked their nationals to leave Jos because they cannot assist them there.

"The advisory is part of a routine security precautions to all Americans in Nigeria" said the U.S. State Department.

The British government, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Filipines also asked their nationals to leave the city.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon equally expressed concern about the violence , and urged political and religious leaders in Nigeria to address the underlying recurring sectarian causes.