Nasarawa State: The War Against Eggons By GodwinOnyeacholem

By Godwin Onyeacholem
One man holds the key to lasting peace in the tense Middle Belt state
of Nasarawa: Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the only providential
state chief executive produced by opposition Congress for Progressive
Change in 2011 election. Should he this moment summon the
uncommoncourage and the inspired vision inherent in true
statesmanship, it's a sure bet that the long-drawn hostilities and
shared hatred causing tremendous anxiety in his domain will end in no
time.
Coming from the tent of the opposition, a group sworn to redressing
the ills of an unsettling negative past, it is not illogical to expect
this governor to have taken a decisive action to weed out the many
legacies of pain left by the preceding governing party. But
unfortunately, he seems not yet ready to confront the monster. This
behaviour clearly typifies more than cowardice. Al-Makura's failure to
put the lid back on the box of evil opened in 1999 by the first 4th
republic governor of the state, Abdullahi Adamu, reflexively
advertises him as a man romancing with a sinister agenda.
Going by unfolding events, it will be hard to persuade dispassionate
followers of affairs in the mineral-rich state that the governor is
not comparing notes with the ex-governor and other collaborators on
the best way to not just clip the influence of the Eggon ethnic group,
but also to completely wipe it off through a well-perfected strategy
of ethnic cleansing. And should some subtle devious means fail to
achieve this, the use of violence seems unquestionably an attractive
option.
As for former governor Adamu, now a senator, he is not hiding the fact
that he is a confirmed nemesis of the Eggons. In the aftermath of the
disastrous Lakyo adventure, he dramatically turned up at the House of
Assembly in Lafia and castigated the ethnic group. He firmly placed
theblame for the crisis in the state at the doorstep of the Eggon
nation and called on other ethnic groups in the state to band together
to check what he perceived as the excesses of the Eggons by any means
possible. Then shortly afterwards, he took out a full-page advert in a
national newspaper to repeat the call he madeat the House of Assembly
and declare that he knew the instigators of the crisis. However, in
his familiar exhibition of utter spinelessness, he would not mention
names.
Yet any discerning observer of Nasarawa state politics knows that if
Adamu has any group of persons in mind as sponsors of the violence,
top among them would be Solomon Ewuga, a leading, highly popular Eggon
politician who is also now a senator from the same party as the
incumbent governor.
For reasons only he can explain (invariably not devoid of paranoia
anyway), Adamu sees Ewuga as a classic bete noir. But on the contrary,
here is a refined gentleman, well-liked by his people and known to be
investing so much for peace to reign in his troubled state. The
extentto which Ewuga is pursuing the restoration of peace in the
entire state regularly comes to the fore whenever he engages the
media.
Meanwhile, there's a sneaky feeling that there is a round-the-clock
revision of an evil plot targeted at theEggons with Adamu and
Al-Makura as the masterminds. For if the governor genuinely desires
peace as some of his supporters argue, he should have simply begun the
process by courageously dusting up the supremecourt judgment of almost
a year ago and reinstating the remainder of the 34 Eggon staff of
Lafia local government council who went to court to challenge their
unjust sack byAdamu.
To quickly recap an injudicious act that was no doubt propelled by
malice, the Adamu administration, which had then just been installed
at the dawn of democracy, ordered all Eggons working in Lafia local
council and others to relocate and resume at Nasarawa Eggon local
council becauseNasarawa Eggon is their designated ancestral home, and
that is where they should permanently belong. In the prejudiced and
misplaced view of Adamu's government, Eggons should live and work in
Nasarawa Eggon, not anywhere else in the state. Then, it was an
abomination for an Eggon manor woman to trace his or her roots to
Lafia, or to any other town other than Nasarawa Eggon.
And so even in the face of convincing proofs that these Eggon workers
originated from Lafia, that government still went ahead to effecttheir
forced evacuation. But thankfully, the supreme court saw theiniquity
of the action and was therefore clear and unambiguous in its decision
– the court declared the act unconstitutional and a violation ofthe
fundamental human rights of the workers and ordered Nasarawa
government to immediately call them back to office and pay all their
entitlements.
But up till now, these workers have not been recalled and there are
reports that some of them are alreadydead, after languishing for years
under what is clearly a state-sponsored tyranny. A situation like this
should worry a focused leader at any level. Instead of beating
aboutthe bush looking for what is not lost, Al-Makura should justify
his democratic credentials by swiftly respecting the law with the
reinstatement of the affected staff who are still alive. Besides
helping to reduce tension, this will enable the existing beneficiaries
enjoy the fruits of their judgment before the fate thatbefell their
colleagues catches up with them.
Even then, the example of Lafia local government is just one of the
terriblepersecutions of the Eggons to which the governor must address
his mind ifhe truly wants peace. For instance, there is an ongoing
random arrest of Eggons by the security agents in the state,
especially the police. Some fourweeks ago, six Eggons whose names are
Maigona Attah from Fadama village, John Allu from Angwan Mayo, Tozali
Peter from Pambarau village, Innocent Sunday, Asabe Bako and Sunday
Kuje, all from Garaku, were arrested for no concrete reasons other
than being Eggons. They were all picked up in their houses at night
and are still being held at state policecommand. No charges were
preferredagainst them.
These indiscriminate arrests began long before the Lakyo incident.
Shortly before then, 11 persons were arrested and moved to the
facilities ofthe dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja
and detained. Even after securing a court order for their release and
compensation for their illegal arrest and detention, the police are
still holding them and reports filtering in say one of the detainees,
whose father is also among the detained, took ill and died. The cause
of death is unknown. What is known is that some Eggon leaders sent a
doctor to treat the young man, but the police denied thedoctor access
to him. As soon as he died, the police transferred the others back to
Lafia where they have continued their detention. The father,it is
reported, is down with appendicitis.
The animosity reserved for the Eggons is expanding by the day. In
police stations across the state, there are reported cases of Eggons
being ignored and turned away when they go to lay complaints. Eggons
serving in the Nasarawa police command are not immune to the
repression. In a June 19 letter with Ref. No CH:5250/ZN.4/VOL.4/194,
titled POSTING/TRANSFER: GENERAL, signed by Auwalu Umar, Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Admin) Zone 4 headquarters, Makurdi, and sent
to the Commissioners of Police at state headquarters in Makurdi, Lafia
and Jos,the Assistant Inspector General of Police in that Zone
suddenly ordered "with immediate effect" the transfer of 32 policemen,
all of them Eggons serving in Nasarawa state. All were transferred to
Benue and Plateau states.
They include 6 inspectors – Alkali Ewuga, David I. Namo, Musa Kigbu,
Patrick Umbugutsa, Michael Abimiku and Michael Agah; 17 Corporals –
Namo Madaki, Attah Amos, Taimako Yakubu, Alanana Shagari, Samuel
Kunza, Embuga James, David Egana, Habila Alu, Ali Yakubu, Idris
Mohammed, Moses Anthony, Allu Ibrahim, Dauda Achuku, Namo Monday,
Dauda Iliya, Daniel Bitrus andAlaku; and 9 Police Constables – Alkali
Solomon, Danjuma Jafaru, Abimiku Magaji, Umbugadu Usman, Yahaya
Ahmadu, Yusuf Shuaibu, Obadiah Obile, Maji Musa and Ayalo Dominic.
The truce between the Eggon people and the Fulanis are routinely
endangered as some armed Alago youths dressed in black T-shirts and
disguising as Eggons launch sporadic attacks on Fulani villages,
destroying their farmlands. Recently, some of them were caught by the
Eggons and turned over to the Fulanis who identified them as the
assailants. These attacks are actually carried out to present a
misleading impression ofthe naturally peaceful Eggons as aggressors
and tormentors of other ethnic groups. But the Fulanis, who revealed
that they were deceived by the state government into taking on the
Eggons in battle, are not only regretting their action, but are also
ready for permanent peace.
Furthermore, the clouds of persecution also cover the state civil
service where there is a supposed embargo on employment for no
otherreason than to block the entrance of the better educated and more
qualified Eggons into the service. And for those who are already in
service, getting promotion to the next level isan uphill task. In the
meantime, employment of other ethnic groups goes on underground just
as it is far easier for non-Eggons to gain promotion regardless of the
level of their competence.
All of this should be of concern to the governor. If he is eager for
peace, he has to instantly reverse these injustices and some others
not stated here but of which he is very well aware. He should not be
deceived into believing that he can attain peace by simply gathering
traditional rulers in the state and getting them to agree to send a
delegation to the paramount ruler of the Eggon nation, His Royal
Majesty, Dr. Bala Angbazo, for the sole purpose of persuading him to
ban the Ombatse cultural group, a property of his ancestors.For the
umpteenth time, the governor needs to be told that the Ombatse group
is not the problem in the state. The problem is the seed of injustice
sown fourteen years ago, and which has now grown into a massive iroko
tree with the active nurturing of some past and present leaders.
Unless the governor reaches to the very depths of his human psyche and
muster the will to cut down this tree full of ripe fruits of
injustice, it will be difficult to talk of peace in their beloved
Nasarawa state.
Godwin Onyeacholem is a journalist; can be reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com