JOS on FIRE

Once more, megalitres of human blood was being poured away in libation to the demon that is Nigerian politics.

The elections of the chairpersons of Local Government Areas (LGA's) in Plateau State, central region of Nigeria, was declared won, all, by People's Democratic Party (PDP), on November 27, 2008. Opposition parties,especially All Nigerian People's Party (ANPP),promptly organized a protest.The protest degenerated into a heavy bloodshed.

Like almost everything Niegrian, the protest became a supremacy contest between religio-cultural, ethno-political fanatics. This time as in several others, the contest was genocidal.

On November 28, 153 people were confirmed dead. Dozens of church and mosque buildings, residential and business houses, and many vehicles were blazed down.
By afternoon Sunday, November 30, the numbers of death-sealed human casualties were approaching 400 in Jos, the capital.


For nearly a year, there were an avalanche of recentful comments about PDP's mis-governance of Nigeria. Instead of governing, PDP has been oppressing Nigerians.

The havoc reekers must have pre-armed themselves in advance of the election. The promptness of their actions, and the rapidity of employment of weapons of high sophistication bespeaks of this. The election merely served as a spark medium through which fire was put in the dry tinder. And there were unconfirmed reports that more than 1000 heaily-armed mercenary warriors were arrested by soldiers on November 29, on their way into the city of Jos.

Meanwhile, a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed and being extended from Jos to other parts of Plateau. And a shoot-