The group, while condemning the fresh outbreak of violence in the state, described the killings as barbaric and inhumane while calling on the relevant international bodies to immediately document them with a view to holding those responsible to account at some point.
CESJET wondered why the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to arrest those behind these crimes against humanity.
The centre further raised the alarm that there was a grand plot to unleash a nationwide instability across Nigeria using Plateau State as the launchpad.
Joyce Ogwu, Executive Director in a statement fingered former governor of the state, Senator Jonah Jang, fueling unrest in the state so as to throw the entire nation into chaos to achieve some aims.
Ogwu said, “The first objective is to trigger similar crisis across the entire country based on the expectations that persons of other ethnicities and faiths would carry out reprisals that would overwhelm the police and therefore spiral out of control;
“The second objective is to on the strength of the crisis prevent the country from holding elections as scheduled in February 2019.
“The third objective derives from the combination of the first and second objective, which is to precipitate a constitutional crisis that would undermine the corporate and sovereign integrity of Nigeria.
“Jang has drafted the Beroms, his ethnic group, for this deadly plot that is now unfolding on a daily basis. This rallies with his promise to make the state and the country at large ungovernable following the loss of election by his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He made this threat without anything happening to him.
“This plot took a dangerous turn when Berom militia, funded by Jang, mingled with protesters and killed Nigerians of other ethnic extractions claiming that it was retaliation for killing of Beroms by unknown gunmen. These unknown gunmen have now been proven to be assassins that were instructed to go on the killing spree and create justification for reprisals against other Nigerians with a view to causing a breakdown of law and order across the country.
“Several persons were killed and others declared missing in the wake of the protests that were hijacked by Jang’s militia. Retired Major General Idris Alkali disappeared under unclear circumstances in a zone controlled by these militias and sadly his car and personal effects are the only things found about him so far. The riots further staged by students and women in the area are nothing but acts of cover-up. This was after the community where his car was eventually found denied the Army the right to evacuate a pond to search for his dead body.
“CESJET is, therefore, calling the attention of President Buhari to this threat to the nation’s security and the need to place security agencies on alert to forestall the success of the plot being hatched against the country in a bid to get at his government.
“The Nigeria Police Force should be directed to speed up its investigation and apprehend all those linked with this plot and immediately arraign them before competent courts to serve as a deterrence to others that may wish to thread similar paths. Mr. President can no longer continue to be indifferent towards the dangerous antics of Senator Jonah Jang simply because he is concerned about how Nigerians or the world will perceive his arrest as persecution.
“The government should also back the Nigerian Army in its investigation to unravel the fate of retired Major General Idril Alkali as no Nigerian, especially one that has given 35 years of his life in service to the fatherland, should end up the way the General has been treated. The Army should bring in the police where necessary since there are reports that human remains were found when it emptied the pond in which the general’s car was found. For us, this is indication that Jang’s Militia might have been engaged in pogrom against other ethnic nationalities and were only found out when the retired general disappeared.
“We further appeal to the Federal Government to intensify ongoing enlightenment campaigns to educate citizens about the dangers of succumbing to ethno-religious oriented incitements as they are detrimental to the nation. The necessary mechanisms should be put in place to engender confidence building so that people will not have course to resort to self-help or reprisal attacks that would only worsen the present situation in areas where Senator Jang is implementing his agenda.”
Discussion about this post