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Ayuba Pam, special adviser on Media to Jonah Jang, governor of Plateau State, speaks to Anza Phillips, assistant editor, on the Jos crisis. Excerpts:

Newswatch: The federal government has finally waded into the Jos crisis by directing the CDS to take charge of the security in the state. The security of any state is supposed to be in the hands of the governor of that state. Is the Plateau State government comfortable with this arrangement?

Pam: The decision by the president to ask the CDS to take over the internal security is a welcome development by the government of David Jonah Jang. The state government feels positive about it. That will also take off from the state government the financial burden the state has been bearing all these while on security. It is going to be a very big relief to the state. The focus of this administration has been that of trying to transform the state, trying to ensure that people of the state reap the right democratic dividends.

Unfortunately, in the past few years, government’s attention has been diverted to security issues whereby a lot of money was sunk into maintaining peace and security. Now that the federal government has taken over the internal security of the state, we hope it will also bear the financial responsibility. If they do, it will therefore mean that what the state government will be spending on security will be less.

Newswatch: The Jang administration had set up the Prince Ajibola panel of inquiry into Jos crisis sometime last year. How come the government has not published a white paper on the report up till now?

Pam: The white paper has been out and the government has adopted or gazetted it.

Newswatch: The president has also directed Anyim Pius Anyim, secretary to the government of the federation, to hand over the Solomon Lar report on the Jos crisis to him for review and implementation. Is the Plateau State government positively disposed towards this because there have been other reports?

Pam: There have been several reports before that of Solomon Lar as you rightly noted. There was the report of 1994 arising from a panel set up by Col. Maina. There was the Justice Niki Tobi report of 2001, when Joshua Dariye was governor. There is also a report of the Plateau State conference. This report was accepted by everybody including the Hausa-Fulani community who participated actively in that peace conference. And then there is the Prince Bola Ajibola report set up by the Jang-led government. Then, there is the Lar advisory committee on the Jos crisis. All these reports have brought out issues, made recommendations and advised government. Now, to answer your question directly, it is a good thing that the federal government has directed the implementation of the Lar report. But I believe the federal government will not implement it solely.

Newswatch: What do you mean by the federal government will not implement it solely?

Pam: I mean that the federal government should sit down with the state government to review all previous reports I mentioned. These previous reports tally in one way or the other. If this is done, I think much will be achieved towards ensuring lasting peace in Plateau State.

Newswatch: How come the state government failed to implement the report of the panels it set up on the Jos crisis or why did it take the government so long to implement the recommendations?

Pam: No, not so long. Parts of the reports have been implemented, while some are yet to be implemented.

Newswatch: Can you be specific with regards the parts that have been implemented?

Pam: Some of the reports had recommended that the structure of the civil service be re-organised. Secondly, that the government should look into the issue of appointments, welfare of workers, to carry everybody along. So, if you look at these reports critically, you will observe that previous government and the Jang administration have been implementing the recommendations of these reports. It will interest you to know that during Jang’s first tenure, a Hausa-Fulani man was made the deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly which ordinarily they couldn’t have got. Apart from that, he had more than five commissioners who were Muslims. He had special advisers both from Igbo, and Yoruba. The situation is still like that because even in the present dispensation, there are still some advisers who are non indigenes of Plateau State.

Newswatch: We do know that in each of these reports, certain persons were indicted. No action has ever been taken against those indicted. Why is it so?

Pam: That is the major concern of some people. The reports have indicted some people in and outside government. There are other persons who have been indicted in several of these reports. What the government has been careful about is the fact that so many people have been calling for reconciliation which some of these panel reports have advocated. To this end, the government has been very careful to the fact that if it is going to have reconciliation committee, it then means, that all those indicted will have to come out and make confessions. In that regard, it will be morally wrong therefore to bring out those indicted for harsh punishment by the government when what is needed is reconciliation.

Newswatch: It appears the emphasis on the crisis in Plateau State is more on what is happening in Jos town and not on the crisis in the rural areas where there are serial killings because of disputes over livestock, land and other sundry issues.

Pam:  People have given different colours to the problems in Plateau State. There has been this theory of cow theft which some people say is the cause of the serial killings in the villages. That’s not correct. I am a Birom man and I do know that for decades, we have lived together with Fulani cattle rearers in Birom villages to the extent that Fulani herdsmen were given land in which they settled and soon became farmers just like the Birom indigenous people. As regards livestock, the Fulani rear cows. The Birom too rear cows. Some Birom people go to stay with the Fulani and rear cows for them. The agreement then was that if you stay with them (Fulani) for a year, at the end they will give you a one year-old cow. If you stay for three years, then three cows for you by the end of the day, depending on how long you stay. These Birom people come back with such cows. Besides that, we buy cows to rear too, and the Birom people are good in livestock. We had lived harmoniously with the Fulani before now. So, that was the level of association we had with the Fulani. It is therefore a surprise that today we no longer live peacefully. So, the theft of cows thing is not one of the reasons for the Jos crisis. We believe there are some fifth columnists, people outside this state who have instigated in one way or the other the crisis in the state.

Newswatch: And who are these fifth columnists?

Pam: They know themselves. Some of them had called for the dismemberment of Plateau State. Some of them have been in the forefront in the calls for a state of emergency in Plateau State. Some are in the forefront in describing the leadership of the state as weak, unfocused, and unserious.

The fifth columnists are well known. Some of them have been indicted by the several reports of inquiry on the Jos crisis. Some of them are still walking around in this country; they are big men in this country. Have you not been reading the papers and see them making careless statements? Why will the council of Ulama sit in Sokoto and take a decision on Plateau and ask the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the state and Obasanjo will heed to that? They are known.