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Thirteen people
were killed in Wereng village, Riyom local government area near Jos, by
men wearing military uniforms in the early hours of Tuesday, according
to officers of the Plateau State Police Command.

The police also
confirmed that attacks were also reported in Fagawang where two persons
were killed, and Nyarwai, both in the Barkin Ladi local government
area, where three persons were killed.

According to a
police statement issued yesterday, 11 houses were burnt during the
attack in Nyarwai, and three in Fagawang villages, while a church was
burnt down in Ding village. A police source who preferred to remain
anonymous confirmed that the attackers used weapons including guns,
machetes, daggers, bows and arrows to attack their victims who were
reportedly taken unawares.

Cold blood murder

According to the
police source, the dead, who were slaughtered and left lying in their
own blood, had several knife cuts on their bodies. The corpses still
lay out in the open in the villages Tuesday morning as government
officials were awaited. An official statement by Obinna Simon for the
state police commissioner, Abdurrahman Akano, said no arrests had been
made, but urged “all those concerned to refuse burial until we perform
the autopsy.”

He said that the
autopsies would help authorities ascertain the source and types of the
weapons used. This, he said, would aid investigations and help
ascertain whether the attackers were real military officers.

A city shuts down

Meanwhile, business
activities were non-existent in the city as banks and other businesses
remained closed throughout Tuesday. With freezing temperatures around
16°C, the streets have remained empty, with only a few vehicles
venturing along specific routes. The city’s business nerve centre,
popularly known as Terminus, has become a ghost of itself. Ahmadu Bello
Way, Rwang Pam, Church, and Langtang Streets, and Old Bukuru Road,
routes that experience heavy traffic daily, are deserted.

Powerless Special Task Force?

The Ndigbo, the
umbrella body of the Igbo community in Jos, said that it has lost
confidence in the Special Task Force headed by Hassan Umaru, a
brigadier-general.

A statement by the
group’s president-general, Richard Wayas, and its secretary, Serbinus
Anyanwu, said that the Ndigbo condemned the cycle of crises, killings,
and the Christmas Eve bombings and called on the federal and state
governments to initiate urgent measures to end the violence.

“At the last count,
we have well over 40 corpses of our people deposited both at the
Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jankwano, and Jos University
Teaching Hospital mortuaries, with several hospitalised,” the statement
read.

“It is also
regrettable that a luxury bus (EKWOS) carrying mostly Igbo passengers
was attacked and burnt down by the same Hausa-Fulani youth along Bauchi
Road, Jos.”

Simon Mwadkon,
chairman of Riyom local government, described the incident as “very
unfortunate,” saying that injured persons had been taken to the Jos
University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). He said that the attackers invaded
the villages between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on Tuesday, setting houses
ablaze and killing the fleeing owners of the houses. Among the victims,
he said, were children and nursing mothers.

The chairman
alleged that security personnel were stationed “just 200 metres to
where the attacks were carried out but they did nothing to stop it. In
fact, a traditional ruler and the councillor, representing the area,
Mr. Victor Davou, rushed to the STF soldiers just by but they bluntly
refused to go to the scene after claiming that they were not given such
an order,” Mr. Mwadkon said.

Mr. Mwadkon,
however, promised that the council would do everything possible to
assist victims of the raid, and called on the state and federal
government to rise to the challenge and “do something drastic about the
incessant crises on the Plateau.”

Averting another crisis

The Bauchi State
Police Command said it has taken steps to prevent a spillover of the
Jos crisis into the state. The command’s public relations officer,
Mohammed Barau, an assistant superintendent of police, told the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi yesterday that security was being
beefed up in all parts of the state, especially in towns close to the
state’s border with Plateau.

“The police have
taken proactive measures to prevent a spillover of the Jos crisis into
the state. We are ready to take action to forestall any breach of law
and order,” he said.

He added that there was now a better understanding between muslims and christians in the state.

The nation’s
inspector-general of police, Hafiz Ringim, urged residents of Jos to
resolve their issues without resorting to violence. Mr. Ringim made the
plea in a statement issued in Abuja by the force’s public relations
officer, Olusola Amore.

“The crisis in Jos
should not be seen as a police/security problem but a
community/political problem which all peace-loving people should strive
to resolve without resorting to rancour,” he said.

“Nigerians should learn to live together in peace in spite of differences in tribe, language and religion,” he added.

The inspector general assured the people of the state and its
environs of 24-hour patrols to forestall the breakdown of law and order
in Jos. He said the police and other security agencies have been doing
their best to contain the crisis and that 15,000 police officers and
other security personnel had been deployed to Jos to restore peace
since the crisis began.