Former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar (rtd), has warned against linking the recent mayhem in Jos, Plateau State to religious issues.
According to him, such would only provoke reprisal attacks in states where Moslems and Christians co-exist peacefully.
Umar, who spoke on Monday in a telephone interview with our correspondent, said the country needed peace at the moment.
The former military administrator, who refused to speak on what he thought might be responsible for the recent carnage in the state or comment on the political situation in the country, said that there was the possibility that other issues led to it but ruled out religious intolerance among the inhabitants as one of them.
He said, “The latest crisis in Jos is not religious at all. If we make statements that it is religious in nature, then we will be calling for trouble in Kaduna and in the South-West, where Moslems and Christians live peacefully together.
“There may be some other causes of the violence, but it is not religious at all. I have read the comments of some people on the crisis in the newspapers, but would like to caution that we should be careful about how we handle the issue.”
Fresh violence had erupted in three communities in Shen village of Jos South Local Government Area of the state, in which many were feared dead barely two months after a similar crisis rocked in the state capital left many dead.
Also, speaking in a separate interview on the telephone, an erstwhile governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said that calls by some concerned citizens on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to dissolve the Federal Executive Council would only create more problems in the polity.
Musa, who noted that the dissolution of FEC was the right decision the Acting President should take to make it more efficient, however, added that there were limitations to the powers of an Acting President in a country as complex as Nigeria.
Musa said, ‘‘The dissolution of FEC is the right thing the Acting President should do. But if he does that, there will be problems.
“We must not forget that there was even a problem arising from his own appointment as Acting President.
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