NEF to Buhari, Lalong: Reactions to Jos Killings Must Produce Immediate Results

•Gov promises not to allow violence degenerate into religious Crisis

•NLC, NGO, northern group condemn attacks

Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja, Segun James in Lagos and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has condemned the recent attack and killing of travelers in Jos North, Plateau State, saying the reactions of President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, must produce immediate results in the arrests and prosecutions of the perpetrators.

But Lalong, on Monday, described the killings as an act of criminality that must not be allowed to degenerate into a religious crisis.

Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), a Non-Governmental Organisation, Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) and a Northern association,, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) have condemned the development, while at the same time demanded arrest and prosecution of those behind the dastardly acts.

However, the Northern Elders Forum, in its intervention, warned that under no circumstances must the heinous crime be ignored or treated as a routine.

Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Forum, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, in a statement issued Monday, stated that it was shocked by the cold blooded murder of scores of travelers by locals in Jos.

The Forum, while condoling with families of those murdered, appealed to all communities to show the highest levels of restraint and tolerance, stressing that killings and reprisals only endanger the lives of more people, most of them innocent.

It said: “Notwithstanding the fact that most of the North of Nigeria is now a virtual killing field, this particular incident is an outrageous provocation, and it compounds the deteriorating community relations in this and many parts of the region.”

“The Forum has taken note of the statement of President Muhammadu Buhari and the steps taken by Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong. These reactions must produce immediate results in arrests and prosecutions. Under no circumstances must this heinous crime be ignored or treated as routine.”

The Forum, therefore, called the attention of leaders at all levels to the increasing vulnerability of Nigerians to armed criminality and deteriorating relations among many communities.

It said it was important that the citizens were made to feel safer and more secure and that every Nigerian must be made to know that there would be consequences for their actions, or the country would sink deeper into lawlessness and anarchy.

Lalong, while on an on-the-spot assessment of the affected areas alongside the head of the Inspector General Special Squad, DIG Sanusi Lemu, said, “We in Plateau want to continue to stay in peace but criminal elements are always working to take us backward.

“Attacks on innocent citizens, no matter their religions or backgrounds will never be tolerated in Plateau State and those who are found to be behind such attacks will be dealt with decisively to serve as deterrant, and to restore public order.

“We would ensure that those arrested are made to face the full wrath of the law. We have done a lot to ensure peace in the state, and cannot sit back and watch miscreants take us back to dark old days.”

Senator representing Plateau South, Prof. Nora Daduut, also condemned the attacks that led to the deaths of commuters in Jos as heineous, calling on law enforcement agencies to swiftly apprehend and bring the perpetrators to justice.

In a press statement, Daduut called on citizens of the state to live in peace with one another as there was no alternative to peace coexistence.

She commended the Governor and security operatives for their proactiveness and called on citizens to cooperate with them to ensure lasting peace in the state.

The NLC, in a statement by its president, Ayuba Wabba, said, “This incident further highlights the deteriorating security situation in our country. There is no gainsaying the fact that we are really living in dangerous times in Nigeria.

“We commiserate with the families of the victims of this heinous crime and we pray for repose on the souls of the faithful departed”.

NLC said whatever was the motivation for the barbaric and atrocious murder of the 22 innocent travellers was totally unacceptable and condemnable, adding that the incident was another sign that the country was steadily losing her humanity.

The CPPM in a statement by its Executive Chairman, Mr. Nelson Ekujumi, also lamented the action.

“We are indeed saddened and traumatised by this heinous crime against God, humanity and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by agents of darkness, who perpetrated this evil act and insist that they must be fished out to face the full wrath of the law at all cost within the confines of the law.”

Ekujumi, however, commended the security agencies, especially, operatives of Operation Safe Haven and the Nigeria Police, whom, he said monitored and responded promptly to distress call in reducing the carnage by rescuing some of the victims and accessing them medical assistance.

“We must also commend President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Simon Lalong for their prompt condemnation and directives to security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of this act of barbarism and criminality,” he added.

The Coalition of Northern Groups, while addressing a press conference on Monday in Abuja, through its spokesperson, Mr. Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, expressed shock that unarmed Muslims, who were in a convoy of five buses were waylaid at Rukaba, Jos, forced to disembark and dozens of them killed in cold blood.

The group noted that the latest incident of highway ambush and killings by the criminals was not an isolated case but part of a coordinated mega plot to give the crisis a religious coloration to cause greater conflict in the North.

It lamented that the main actors in the perpetuated highway ambushes and killings have been left on the scene over the last decade to exploit the huge vacuum in the government’s political will and capacity to arrest the escalation of avoidable conflicts.

“We categorically warn the perpetrators of such highway murders and their sponsors that people’s patience has reached the point where any further ambush and attack would not be tolerated henceforth.

“We demand thorough investigation, arrest and diligent prosecution of the criminals that blocked and killed innocent travelers on such public highways as the Rukuba junction in Gada biyu, Abuja and Barikin Ladi roads in Plateau State and other locations in Kaduna and Benue States,” it stated.