A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rima Shawulu, has said the killings in Plateau and other parts of the middle belt have persisted because the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
Featuring on TVC news programme on Thursday at 10pm, Shawulu long decried the prolong massacre in Plateau.
He said it is not enough to stop people from killing without ensuring that the perpetrators face the consequences of their criminality. “You don’t just go and say you have stopped people from fighting without bringing whoever is responsible to book”, he said.
He lamented that the Plateau problem has lingered for too long without definite solution.
“I was a journalist Jos, I reported for The Standard newspaper in Jos, I also reported there for the BBC African Service and I want to tell you that these problems have been there on the Plateau for a very long time”, he said.
He noted that, at least, 12 Local Government Areas have been badly affected by the attacks.
He recalled how a first class traditional ruler was murdered in Bokkos by gunmen who till date, have not been found and brought to justice.
Responding to questions during the news programme, Shawulu said, “A first class, traditional ruler was killed in Bokkos about two years ago by so-called gunmen or militias and nobody was brought to book.
“You go to a place like Bassa Local Government Area which is the host (community) to the 3rd Amoured Division of the Nigerian Army which has been devastated by the so-called gunmen.
“So, the question really is this : Are these things particular to Plateau state, or are they spread across the country?
“In Taraba state, where I come from, we still have a very big share of these attacks.
“Nearby Kaduna state which share boundary with Plateau state, has the same problem.
“The press seemed to have gotten tired of what happens in Kaduna state, so they are no longer report happenings there, but I want to assure you that even in Kaduna state, Local Governments bordering Abuja, people are killed or kidnappped”.
Speaking further, he said many communities had been razed down adding that, in Abuja, the so-called headers or militias have ordered some communities, near Bwari, in to pack out of their communities.
He added that, “Farmers who went back to those communities to harvest their crops were either kidnapped or killed.
“So if you look at the problem in Plateau state only, you might missed the big picture of what we have in the country. We have a major problem.
“Several communities in Nigeria today, have become ungoverned spaces”.
He also said the security challenges is more of a problem of the police than the military.
According to Shawulu, the military is not supposed to be the first respondent to crisis but the police are supposed to be.
Shawulu said, “In terms of the number of policemen and the number of military that we have, for every one soldier, you have two or three policemen.
“The police have more numbers. They are supposed to be in those places. The law enforcement agencies are supposed to work.
“Law enforcement in this case is not just kinetic force, going to quell riots.
“What the military usually does and that is what happens all over, is to make sure that they stop the two fighting, so to say, and then go back.
“The people who have the mandate to maintain peace are actually the police.
“There are Divisional Police Stations in every Local Government Headquarters in the country.
“There are police outposts in every section of the country. I have said it a few times that, if we want to solve this problem, we have to go back to the basic issue of policing.
“Whoever is responsible for these problems has not been brought to book; and you think that tomorrow is some new people will not go back to do the same thing.
“The issue is that everywhere in the world, people are afraid of law enforcement because there are consequences.
People obey laws because there are consequences of not obeying laws. “
