An open letter to Plateau State

We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools….

AMy dear Plateau State, t a time like this writing a letter of any kind constitutes a chore not on account of not knowing what to say but for the difficulty in finding the right words to express bottled-up thoughts, the right words to give expression to melancholy and the right words to describe the feelings of a bleeding heart. But since write I must, and since where there is a will there is a way, this letter my dear Plateau State is now a reality.

Plateau State, you and I have come a long way. Remember, I was born in Anglo. Jos a small tin mining community sandwiched between Jos and Bukuru and run by Gold and Base, a British mining company. That was in the year 1953 when you were then (I believe) a province in the defunct Northern Nigeria. In that small community I grew up among my peers who were mainly of Berom, Hausa/Fulani and Igbo extractions with a sprinkle of others like Yoruba, Ngas and Goemai. In my primary school - Roman Catholic Mission school Zaramaganda, opposite Dadin Kowa-the population mix was similar and almost identical but with the Beroms and Igbos enjoying some kind of numerical superiority. In primary school I offered Christian Religious knowledge in which (pardon my immodesty) I was among the best, sat through Mass, observed the Angelus (a catholic devotion commemorating the incarnation) and enjoyed a regular supply of “Kanbar”, a sweet potato delicacy from my Berom friends. Secondary education in Saint Murumba College Jos, another Catholic school, was another experience to cherish. Here again I was a minority in religious and ethnic terms but it did not matter. Christian Religious knowledge was one of the subjects I offered. In this I again excelled. My minority status was inconsequential when I was made a prefect and it did not matter when I was made the captain of the school’s football team in which I played alongside ten (10) Christians including Segun Odegbami who later captained the Super Eagles.

After a successful, memorable and fun - filled period of five years in Saint Murumba it was time to move further in my educational pursuit and my preferred destination was the school of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. I was ready having successfully done the interview. My joy was however short-lived as my principal, a Reverend Father, would have none of it describing that route to University as a back door (his exact words). Instead he chose for me a two-year High School stint in yet another Catholic school in Jos-Saint Louis College where only the High School section was mixed. My father, who had an immutable trust in my principal’s judgement consented and I was shipped off there as the only Muslim in the whole of the HSC section. Here I was “spoilt” with unconditional love especially during Ramadan periods when my special Iftar meals were the envy of everyone in the school’s dining hall.

My dear Plateau State I have gone to this great length to recount in a very laconic way my formative experiences in the geographical entity you now represent to prove to people that you are capable of loving, and to further stress the fact that recent and current happenings have never defined you and should now not define you. I want you back as the Plateau State of my formative years - the Plateau State in which we all (Christian and Muslims) thrived, the Plateau State of the famous Plateau Eleven, the Plateau State of the Highlanders football team, the Plateau State of the once mighty Mighty Jets, the Plateau State of the famous Plateau Peaks Basketball team, the Plateau State of the Sahara All Stars Band. I can go on and on and dare anybody to prove me wrong on just one out of my assertions about you.

Let us dwell albeit briefly on Jos your capital city by paraphrasing what was recently said about it. “The mere mention of Jos excited the hospitality instincts of all. Its serene environment coupled with its temperate weather conditions made it a home for all and a hub for modernisation. It was also known as a religious melting point for all known faiths in Nigeria from TEKAN, COCIN to ECWA on the Christian side to JNI, NASFAT AND JIBWIS on the side of the Muslims. The people cohabited, interacted and related with each other freely. It was the early centre of mineral exploration in Nigeria and attracted people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. It was a miniature Nigeria”. Notice the use of the past tense in the above description - a pointer to how abysmally low we have sunk, a pointer to degeneration as killing maiming and destructions fuelled by hatred have taken over. Plateau State, this is not you and this is not Jos. I want you back, I need you back. Many, like me, do. To get you and Jos back we need to be positive. We cannot and must not allow you to become a scrambled page in the book called Nigeria. We must remake you not in the likeness the destructive elements wish for you but in your original image of love, beauty and peace. We must not be terrorised and cowed into allowing the forces of darkness have their say and way. We must come to the dawning realisation that together we can confront and prevail over the evil forces bent on a stormy and outrageous destruction of all the good things that define you. My post on Facebook on the same issue elicited close to a million comments. While a large majority of them were positive and depicted a common desire for peace, a few were blatantly abusive and disrespectful. I will not be deterred by aggressive wars of words and gratuitous campaigns of calumny from speaking out, along with others who wish you and Nigeria well, against the evil designs of the perpetrators of the past and current mayhems. We will soldier on because failure on our part will be unimaginable and unforgivable. We are firm believers in Albert Einstein’s quote to wit: “the World will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”.

I pause here clinging to the hope that the next time I have cause to write I will be sending an eulogy of praise and commendation.

I remain yours,