Governor, Jonah Jang

By Seriki Adinoyi

As part of the measures to halt the incessant crises in Plateau State, grazing of cattle at night and odd hours has been banned.

The agreement to ban night grazing was reached yesterday between the Berom farmers, Fulani cattle breeders, security agencies and the state government.

The agreement was reached during a stakeholder, peace parley convened by the Special Task Force (STF) in collaboration with the state government.

The stakeholders identified cattle rustling, destruction of farmland, silent killings, among others as a major cause of the protracted and incessant crises in the villages in the state.

Though Fulani leaders in attendance denied knowledge of any night grazing, they however agreed that the measure to ban it was appropriate as it will also stop cattle rustling at nights.

The peace parley held at the conference hall Gwol Motel, Barkin Ladi, was attended by community leaders of Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Mangu, Pankshin, Kanke, Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa local governments respectively.

Declaring the peace parley open, the state Governor, Jonah Jang, expressed the commitment of his administration to restore peace before the end of his tenure in 2015.

Represented by his Permanent Secretary Security, Istifanus Dung Gyang, Jang said the peace parley was conventional approach to peace-building in the state.

The governor pleaded with the stakeholders to speak frankly with one another and agree on a way out at the end of the meeting.

Earlier in a welcome address, the Commander of Devote 7 of the STF, Col Victor Ita, said the peace parley was held among youths of the locality, saying it was an opportunity for them to speak out grievances and how to resolve them.

STF Commander, Major General Henry Ayoola, in his opening remarks, said the large attendance indicated that all the stakeholders were interested in peace in the area.

Meanwhile, the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the forthcoming Plateau North Senatorial by-election, Hon. Jonathan Yusufu Pam, has promised to restore peace in Jos, if given the mandate.

Pam, who was the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice during the tenure of Chief Joshua Dariye, as governor, revealed that the administration was able to manage the crisis in the state before Governor Jonah Jang’s administration came on board to distort it.

But, the state government while reacting to Pam’s remarks, said the allegation was malicious and lacking in both substance and truth.

However, Pam recalled that one of the ways through which the administration was able to maintain peace was by putting representative government in place, especially in the volatile Jos North local government area, “and we achieved peace with that from 2004 till when the present administration decided to conduct the November 27, 2008 local government election” that turned out bloody.

He disclosed this Monday during a press conference at the Jos, adding that he decided to contest the election because having participated actively in the peace process in the zone, especially as the chief lawmaker during the most trying period of the emergency rule, he will try to replicate that formula to ensure the return of permanent peace in the restive zone.

He said: “During the emergency rule, we organised the Plateau Peace Conference, with representatives of all the ethnic nationalities in the state and at the end we produced what we called ‘Plateau Resolves,’ and I still believe that that document holds the key to peace not only in the zone, but in the entire state, because we applied the formula to Jos North and for four years there was constant peace in the area.

However, a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Pam Ayuba, said: “Yusufu can’t at this point in history rewind his incapacitation to have handled squarely the crisis in Plateau State in 2001 when he served as the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice under Dariye, whom he betrayed even after the imposition of a State of Emergency in 2006.

“Yusufu also served as Attorney-General to Major General Alli for that period and failed to bring the crisis to an end.”

For him to come out to point accusing fingers on this government and particularly the governor is most unfortunate considering his decimal performance as then AG/Justice commissioner in the state. He should know better that the Jang government inherited a huge deficit in using the present status of insecurity from a government he actively participated.”