NYSC 10: A CALL FOR JUSTICE
SOME parts of the North periodically plunge into murderous barbarism. There are sometimes motiveless massacres; people are killed for a kick. The bloodthirsty rioters are not always street-dwelling young toughs. Some workers at the Ahmadu Bello University beat a professor to death over the delay in the implementation of a salary increase in the 1990s. They were not punished for their terrible crime.
MANY people have been getting away with murder in Nigeria. In one city, members of one ethnic group armed themselves when the government failed to protect them. They have been the victims of envious attacks. They fought back the next time they were attacked and prevented the killing of their children and the destruction of their property. The government ordered the surrender of firearms, even those licensed, after this heroic resistance.
THE killings in Plateau State, especially in the Jos area, continue probably because nobody has ever been punished for them. Arrests have sometimes been made, with some of the suspects literally having blood on their hands, but prosecution, the next logical step, especially when strong evidence of guilt exists, has never followed, as far as we know.
THE governor of Plateau State, Mr Jonah Jang, has spoken several times about his frustration and emansculation. Suspects were taken to Abuja, the country’s capital, by the federal authorities and they were reportedly later released. This was not a political matter but a clear case of cold-blooded murder and the suspects should have been allowed to prove their innocence in Plateau State.
THE Special Task Force, the military peacekeepers in Jos, has often been accused of taking sides in the bloody dispute in the area. Indeed, soldiers have been accused of direct involvement in some of the killings and proof was provided in one case: the identity card of a soldier found close to the bodies of murder victims.
FIVE soldiers who were suspiciously close to the scene of a lethal attack, but refused to go to the help of the shrieking victims, were arrested on the orders of the military authorities several months ago. Was there an investigation and what was discovered? If the five soldiers behaved unprofessionally, have they been punished?
THE country is more than 95 per cent united in the call for the swift prosecution of those who killed 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps in Bauchi State, Plateau State’s neighbour. Nigerians are also agreed that those found guilty of the murders should be severely punished. This is also what the parents and relations of the victims want; they want the murderers to be brought to justice, though their brutality shows that they belong to the jungle.
THE family members of the victims make the demand for justice when President Goodluck Jonathan received them at the Presidential Villa. Thousands of corps members played an important role in the successful conduct of the April general election. It was a national assignment and most Nigerians and foreigners are of the view that the vast majority of the corps members did not betray the trust of those who appointed them and that of the nation.
PRESIDENT Jonathan announced “a token monetary compensation of N5 million” to be paid immediately, to each bereaved family. The president also promised to give employment to one sibling of each of the 10 victims if he/she has a degree. Injured corps members will have a job waiting for them at the end of their service year.
THE bereaved families were grateful to the president for the compensation and promises. The immediate payment of the compensation must be the first time this has happened in this country. Rulers make promises and they are soon forgotten. The widows of the majors who died in the Ejigbo plane crash in 1992 were each promised a house, but one widow was given the keys to a modest bungalow only a few years ago by a civilian governor. General Ibrahim Babangida, then military president, made the promise and gave the order that the bungalows should be built. The army and the police authorities are quick to eject the dependants of deceased officers from their quarters.
A president is a very busy person, but we are certain that President Jonathan will not forget his promises to the bereaved families and Nigerians, especially the promise to punish those who killed the corps members and the other victims following the announcement of the presidential election result by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
THE panel the president has set up may be able to identify the instigators of the completely unwarranted but murderous violence. There is no doubt the riots were instigated. Illiterate rioters usually unleash indiscriminate violence, but the corps members were targetted.
THE report of the panel when it is submitted to the government should be closely and honestly studied. The reign of impunity, which has encouraged knee-jerk violence in some parts of the country, must be firmly brought to an end.
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