A Discerning Bullet & The Fallacy of Christian Genocide in Plateau State

A Discerning Bullet & The Fallacy of Christian Genocide in Plateau State

By Lawal Ishaq Esq.
On 29th March this year, Jos City was thrown into confusion when the forgotten ugly madness of the ethno-religious crisis reared its sad face. This time around, the trigger was a discerning bullet* shot randomly by some evil gum-wielding men; the exact number and the means of their conveyance are still not clear. This discerning bullet shot randomly was meant to kill only Christians and did, despite the undisputed fact that there were Muslim youths in the same location with the supposed targeted Christian youths.

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This is the height of ridiculous lies and theories being told in Plateau State for long. It is on record that these bullets didn’t discern between Christians and Muslims, as the bullets killed both. In telling the lies, the manipulative Christian propagandists lined up some dead bodies affected by the bullets and shamelessly included the body of a Muslim victim in a red T-shirt. His people and friends identified his body from the picture the liars were circulating on social media and raised alarm that the young man is a Muslim, not a Christian, as was being falsely spread. It turned out that out of about 29 victims of the supposed discerning bullet aimed to kill only Christians, up to four Muslims fell as well. This is understandable due to the fact that the spot targeted is notorious for the congregation of wayward youths sharing and taking all sorts of hard and intoxicating drugs.

Despite these obvious facts, the liners and propagandists of Christians Genocide on the Plateau kept portraying the sad event of Sunday, 29th March, as a continuation of the falsely claimed Christian genocide. Let’s not forget that scores of Muslim youth, notably okada and Keke Napep operators, were ambushed, killed and their bodies either burnt to ashes or disposed of in shallow graves or thrown into the rivers of Gada Biyu, Farin Gada, Unguwar Ruiuba and many other Christian-dominated areas in Jos.

This brought the bear the lies of Christian genocide in Plateau orchestrated by Professor Joash Amuputan, the current INEC chairman, in his infamous legal brief of 2022.

No doubt lives are being lost through violent means in the Plateau every day. However, if any of the happenings of illegal life-taking in the state is going to be referred to as a genocide, then the event of 28th to 30th November 2008 in Jos was the event that is more qualified to be referred to as genocide – Muslim genocide, to put it appropriately. In three days in November 2008, over 600 Muslims were shot dead, as by the Muslim leadership in Jos and corroborated by some international human rights agencies such as Human Rights Watch.

Going a bit back to the 2001 Jos crisis, the state government-owned Commission of Inquiry set up in 2001 under Justice Niki Tobi confirmed the claim of Muslim genocide in Plateau State as well in its report.

Sadly, the Muslims don’t have the media or are not out for propaganda. As such, their mass killing is always unreported or underreported. (See a table of Muslims massacred in different incidents in Plateau with dates and figures).

I was listening to a video clip of an Islamic imam delivering a sermon last Friday in which he logically stated that it is impossible for Muslims to carry out genocide of Christians in a place like Plateau because Muslims are not only in the minority; we are highly marginalised, which incapacitated us following decades of marginalisation and neglect. Muslims are barely living in Plateau State because since the creation of the present Plateau, there has not been a single Muslim civilian governor, deputy governor, secretary to the state government or chief of staff in the state. The Imam asked, ‘How can a minority oppress the majority to the extent of committing genocide against them when they are not even close to the machinery of power? ‘ If Muslims were interested in committing any genocide against the Christians, they could have conveniently done so in places where they are the majority, like Kano or Sokoto!

It is sad that a few people are still telling their people that it is possible to have a plateau without Muslims. This is a nightmare, not a dream. As opined by some eight thinking social media content creators, the day we realise that Christians cannot chase Muslims from Plateau State and vice versa, that day will be the beginning of peaceful coexistence in the state. This fact should be repeated and carried as wide as possible so that we may have a peaceful plateau.

Enough of these lies and propaganda, please. Let’s live and let. Live!

Barr. Lawal Wrote from Jos Plateau State.