Leadership by example makes all the difference. Seeing Plateau State governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang address grieving families, from an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), after yet another blood bath, made me blink a tear.
If he could commandeer such bullet proof machine from the police, what stopped the governor from using the same weapon to pursue the killers of over 50 persons in that Palm Sunday attack on innocent families in Gari Ya Waye.
APC also stands for the All Progressives Congress. I know the party is the best thing in town, as far as many governors know. Celebrating Mr. President’s birthday took precedence over security matters on the Plateau. This does not smell sweet at all.
Our leaders should stop distancing themselves from the people. Mutfwang could have changed overnight. I know this man loves sports and was free with the crowd. His popularity sowered following his support for Plateau United and Mighty Jets of Jos. What politics cannot do, does not exist.
Let me go back to the Civil War. Biafran leader, Gen. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu visited Oguta in September 1968 after Nigerian 3rd Marine Commandos had annexed the town and were on their way to capture the Uli Airport, Biafra’s remaining sole gateway to the world.
Ojukwu arrived in a Land Rover, with an MG 1 hanging on his neck. He did not enter the armoured vehicle, Corporal Nwafor, which was readily available to launch ‘Operation Now or Never’, code name for the the attack to recapture Oguta. He mingled freely with officers and men of 14 Division, under the command of Brig. Sylvanus Nwajei.
That was at a time Russian MiG jets of the Nigerian Air Force, piloted by Egyptians hovered round the town, targeting and bombing all moving objects -human and machine. Ojukwu knew armoured cars were scarce in Biafra and chose to be ordinary, like the troops.
Mutfwang may be a lawyer but I know that Plateau is the land of brave men. Did we not have Joshua Dogonyaro, the man who led ECOMOG troops in Liberia? Today, in Monrovia and environs, there are children bearing Dogonyaro simply because the fear of that name was the beginning of wisdom.
During the years of military rule, especially under Ibrahim Babangida, the most respected caucus was known as the Langtang Mafia. Domkat Bali, Jerry Useni, Dogonyaro and John Shagaya held top positions. Dogonyaro announced the August 27, 1985 coup while Shagaya, Commander of 9 Brigade Ikeja, cleared the way.
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IBB wanted to be in their good books that was why, Chief of Joint Services, Bali made Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe look like Number Three instead of Number Two. Of course, Ukiwe would have none of it. He chose to retire.
Plateau is the home of Col. James Yakubu Pam, who passed out from Sandhurst before Gen. Yakubu Gowon. That is the land of Iliya Bisalla, who once served as Chief of Army Staff under Gowon and later a General Officer Commanding (GOC) during the Civil War.
Mutfwang held a meeting with Tinubu after the Palm Sunday tragedy. This is time to say, enough is enough. Nigerians are no longer interested in political assurance and promise. Action is all they want to see. People must be made to pay for this madness.
On July 15, 2025, lives were lost in Binda, Tahos in Riyom Local Government Area. Mutfwang made a trip to see things for himself. And his words, spoken like a true leader, remain with me. He said : “We will deploy every resource at our disposal to end this genocide. This is not a case of farmer – herder conflict. This is terrorism, this is genocide. Pure and simple.”
In Riyom alone, the bloodletting went round. It happened in Fang. Many died in Rachi. Lives were lost in Keng and more in Gwong. The murderers attacked places in Bokkos, they did not spare Barkin Ladi. Jos North has become another Golgotha.
We are asking questions. Rukuba is the headquarters of the 3rd Armoured Division of the Nigeria Army. There is the Maxwell Khobe Barracks. With such a powerful formation, those who plundered Angwan Rukuba should have been arrested in good time. It is a failure on the part of government that soldiers could not protect those citizens.
Mutfwang should find his way round the Nigerian Air Force. That is leadership. One of his predecessors, Jonah Jang, trained as a fighter pilot in 1965, retired as an Air Commodore and is still very much around. He celebrated 82, recently. Another Jonah, Marshal Wuyep, was Chief of Air Staff.
With such big Plateau names, it does not take much to involve the Air Force base in Jos. Governors do not always have to wait for Abuja to take action. It was not Tinubu that sent the Armoured Vehicle to Mutfwang. The same way, Jang and Wuyep, can open doors. Politics has turned some leaders to tin gods. They look down on people who can help them get things done. All the energy used in buying brooms to sweep away the umbrella could as well be used to secure lives and property. Enough of 2027 politics.
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