Posted by By Jude Owuamanam and Segun Olatunji on
The Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau, has personally taken over security in the state as fresh tension reigned in Jos, Plateau State, on Sunday.
The Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau, has personally taken over security in the state as fresh tension reigned in Jos, Plateau State, on Sunday.
He arrived in the troubled city on Saturday hours before another set of troops were deployed from Kaduna to restore peace and order.
Our correspondent in Plateau reported that Dambazzau supervised the deployment of soldiers to the hot spots in the tin city on Sunday morning.
He later patrolled the streets, especially the vulnerable areas, visited Governor Jonah Jang and some of the displaced persons.
The police had earlier despatched an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Richard Chime, to Jos, but when the security reports became alarming, Dambazzau opted to move into the city personally.
Before the Army Chief visited the displaced persons, fears had gripped the residents of Jos again as sporadic gunshots rented the air in the city while a group, operated by the Ja'amatu Nasril Islam, said it was preparing mass burial for some of the victims of the crisis.
Violence broke out in Jos on Friday following disagreements over the results of the local government election in Jos North Local Government Area.
More than 300 people were reported to have been killed in the violence while close to 1,500 suspected rioters had been arrested.
Our correspondents reported that the fresh troops from Kaduna were airlifted to Jos from the Nigerian Air Force Base, Kaduna, in a NAF Hercules C-190 aircraft marked 'NAF 913.'
Before their departure, the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj.-Gen. Moses Obi, warned the soldiers against unwholesome acts and brutalisation of law-abiding civilians.
He reminded them that they were deployed in the troubled city to perform their normal internal security operations in line with the constitutional responsibility of the Nigerian Army.
He said, 'You are going for your normal internal security duty. I don't want to hear that you brutalise any civilian. You are performing your constitutional duty. You must realise that you must protect lives and property.
'Above all, discipline must be your watchword. I will not want to get complaints about any of you. And I will tell you that as soon as you finish performing your duty there, you will come back home soon.
'While there, you are under the control of the 3 Division. So, you take orders from there. Listen to your officers and know how you relate with them.'
The Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Lt. Col. Mohammed Yerima, told journalists that the deployment of the troops was aimed at assisting the police to effectively contain the violence.
He said, 'As you are all aware of the current situation in Jos, we in the 1 Division are just supporting with two companies of soldiers, to aid the civil authorities in Jos.
'People should not panic. It's a normal exercise, most of our troops in Jos have gone on foreign operations. So, we have to complement and support the operations in Jos. The situation is under control. The General Officer Commanding there is in full control. This is just to take care of any unforeseen occurrence. We have to be prepared as we were called in to support the police.'
Meanwhile, the Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Nuhu Gagara, has reiterated the government's earlier position that the destructions were pre-planned.
He told journalists at a news conference on Sunday that 17 ‘mercenaries' who claimed to have been recruited from Kaduna State had been arrested.
Gagara added that the ‘mercenaries' that were found in a house along Miango Road were being interrogated.
The commissioner condemned what he called deliberate distortion of facts by a section of the media, saying their reports were capable of escalating the crisis.
He warned that, those he accused of deliberately orchestrating the crisis to warrant the imposition of a state of emergency in Plateau State, would fail.
The commissioner also thanked President Umaru Yar'Adua for his interest and support towards ending the crisis.
While stating that the government regretted the occurence of large number of casualties from the crisis, Gagara said that a search rescue committee had been raised to retrieve dead bodies and help the injured.
When our correspondent in Jos visited the Central Mosque on Sunday, he counted about 15 dead bodies , whom the Aid Group of the Ja'amatu Nasril Islam said were being prepared for mass burial.
The identities of the dead could not be ascertained as they were said to have been picked up randomly by the Muslim community and taken to the mosque.