SPECIAL REPORTS
By Kalu Idika Last updated....
There seems to be another angle to the present Jos crisis which appears under reported.
Recall that there has been palpable tension in Plateau State after 25 Muslims who were said to be returning from Bauchi State for an Islamic festival were hacked to death by angry villagers.
The police said over 33 suspects have been arrested in connection to the carnage while surveillance helicopters and more police operatives have been deployed to the area to forestall reprisal attacks
However, a source from Jos who spoke with newsmen under the condition of anonymity said what is been reported by media houses is quite different from the security situation in Plateau State
The source noted that the so called Muslims who were allegedly attacked were not Yoruba Muslims but foreign militia gang hired by some elements in the corridors of power to kill and inflict more damage to the people of Plateau State.
The source said, “About 2 wks ago, a group of terror herdsmen invaded the Irigwe kingdom in Plateau, killed and maimed scores of civilians, destroyed hecters of farmland and burnt over 150 houses.
“While all these carnage was going on, the soldiers stood by and did nothing to stop the carnage because according to them they were not ordered to intervene.
“Even the chief of the community cried out for help and appealed to the soldiers to stop the pogrom but they were rebuffed. The people were left to lick their wounds alone.
The source continued, “The people now decided to bury their dead last Saturday.
“On the way to the burial site some vehicles appeared almost from nowhere and were heading towards the same site…one of the vehicles was carrying a coffin.
“The convoy was intercepted and the people were questioned. Most of them could not even speak Hausa and couldn’t explain why they were in that area but only said they were following instructions…apparently, they were foreign militia.
How Irigwe youths recovered cache of weapons in a coffin that led…
“The coffin they carried was forced open and lo and behold, a heap of sophisticated weapons. That was when the locals knew that they were on a mission to kill those who would attend their mass burial.
“The locals turned on them and started killing them. About 25 of them were killed and as many more injured…while some of them are still missing.
“The locals went away with their weapons and this did not go down well with their sponsors.
“The narrative being put out there is that a group of innocent Muslims from Ondo State who went to Bauchi for an Islamic festival and on their way back to Ikare in Ondo State were intercepted in Jos and were brutally massacred.
“The survivors were interviewed and they said they were not from Ondo State and when the list of those killed was released, there was no Yoruba man there.
“They were all Fulani. The governor of Ondo State has come out to say that no Yoruba was killed in Jos to debunk the narratives of the govt’s spokesperson.
“The introduction of the Ondo angle to the story is to create a wedge between the Yoruba and the Muhammadu Buhari people now that there is a working relationship between the South and the Middle Belt people….still the same old ‘divide and rule’ tactics.
Meanwhile, some of the students of University of Jos who also spoke with our correspondent said the situation is getting more horrible as they have been abandoned to their fate.
One of the students said, “I literally ran out of my house to stay with a friend. We are over ten in one room. No food. Some of the stores around the campus have ran out of stock. This is not a joke anymore. See, this Abuja hostel has been filled with students because all of them ran to this place for safety. No water and food
“Honestly we do not have any idea what the situation is turning into. Yesterday morning when we came out we saw vans of local hunters with guns coming from down the bush but we could not see uniform men in site except the ones coming to pick some students whose parents are well to do.
“We were instructed to put on black and black by student union because there was report that Fulani militia group were planning to attack. So all of us wore black and black.
“The male students did patrol all through the night around the campus. And that same night hausa hoodlums came to attack us but were overpowered by the male students before they withdrew. We did not sleep till the next morning. All of us were holding sticks to defend ourselves, another student said
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