Jos Crisis 2010
Almost exactly a week after we were back in Jos following the SIM Nigeria Spiritual Life conference things got a bit difficult here. It was Sunday 17th January and we had all been to church in the morning and were just hanging out at Challenge compound when we heard what sounded like gunfire from somewhere outside. Actually, to me at the time it didn’t sound like gunfire, but more like the brakes of a lorry straining as it was coming up to the junction outside Challenge, I didn’t really think anything of it. That was until I heard what Ruth had seen when she had been down town a little earlier. She was walking one of her Nigerian friends towards her house when they were stopped by army troops and prevented from reaching the house. All the cars were being turned back and no one was being allowed through. The soldiers weren’t able to give any reason why but they just wouldn’t let anyone through.
As we were all sitting in Lisa’s apartment we got discussing what was going on. We spoke to the guards on the compound gate and they said that there was some unrest at a police station in Nasarawa Gwom. There were people standing outside the gate and everyone was looking down the road to where there was an increasing amount of gunfire and some smoke rising into the air. That was when I first heard the dreaded words – Crisis!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening looking out from the compound and listening to radio broadcasts. The initial information was that everything was under control and there was nothing to worry about, although a 6pm-6am curfew had been imposed.
Monday morning we were advised to wait on the compound to see how things progressed before going anywhere. It got to about 10am and things seemed to be calm. People were beginning to venture onto the streets and the road outside Challenge was becoming busier. So after checking with Chris I made my way to Evangel. The department was quite quiet with not many outpatients turning up. So I did what I needed to do on the wards and then returned home by about 1pm. The streets seemed to be getting busier and it seemed like everything had blown over and been brought under control. When I got home I found out that the rest of the people on the compound had kept themselves busy that day by slaughtering one of our pigs. The pig was becoming problematic and so it had to go. So when I got home I was greeted by the site of pig guts and joints spread across George’s garden.
Tuesday morning I was quite confident I would be able to go to work like normal so I got up at the usual time and got ready for work. Just as I was leaving I phoned Chris to check if it was ok for me to go but he didn’t answer. I guessed he was in the SIM Office prayer meeting. So I decided to wait to speak to him, just to be on the safe side. As I waited, from around Jos gunfire began to break out and steadily became more intense. By the time Chris phoned me back about 20 minutes later I had already made up my mind, I wasn’t going to go anywhere. I was very glad I made that decision as a couple of hours later we heard on the radio that a 24 hour curfew had been imposed on Jos and everyone was to stay in their houses. I was glad I hadn’t made it to the hospital and then got stuck there!!
So we spent the rest of the day hanging out at Challenge, enjoying the 24 hour electricity and listening to the gunfire and noises from around Jos. As in the last Crisis the area where we live was very quiet. There are not many people living there and there are lots of banks which means there are lots of security as well. So we felt pretty safe where we were. We were more prepared than the last crisis as well and our cupboards were much better stocked. And we even had a huge supply of fresh meat, thanks to the killing of the pig. So we ate really well that night. During the day, Dustin and George decided that wanted to sort out the pig pen which was beginning to smell quite a lot. As there was now only one pig they thought they would then be able to keep it under control better. They had the really good idea that throwing petrol on all the pig poop and then lighting it would get rid of the smell and dry the place up. I was a bit dubious of the idea given the pen was partly made of cardboard boxes, but I went along with it anyway. So, when they threw the match on the petrol, obviously it burnt very quickly and fiercely and managed to catch the cardboard alight. Being under 24hour curfew and having places in Jos burned in the riots it probably wasn’t the best thing for plumes of smoke to be rising from one of the compounds, so we quickly sprang into action and loaded buckets with water and extinguished the flames after a few attempts. So all in all the idea worked well – the pig pen still smelled bad, it didn’t have a proper fence now and the ground was even wetter than before!! Still, we had fun doing it and it passed the time!!!
Things seemed to calm down a bit over night but by the morning the 24 hour curfew was still in place. So we had another day trapped on the compound to look forward to!! We spent the day playing games and chatting and trying to keep ourselves amused. In the afternoon we heard some disturbing noises coming from across Jos. There were sounds of shouting and chanting which we guessed was the sound of a riot taking place. Then even more disturbingly we heard a burst of intense automatic gunfire from the same direction and then after that the shouting had stopped. The question that we kept on asking ourselves was, were those bullets aimed at people or was it just being fired in the air to disperse the crowd. I guess we will never know. We did find out that there were some warning shots being fired and that was quite close to our compound. We heard from one of the Nigerians on Pharmacy compound, on the opposite side of the road to Challenge, that they had had a stray bullet fly through the roof, ricochet off the floor and fly just past someone sitting in the room. I guess if all the shots we had heard earlier that day had been warning shots, it still could have lead to people being injured!!
By Thursday things were starting to settle down and the 24 hour curfew was replaced by a 5pm to 10am curfew instead. This still severely limited what we could do and after speaking to Atinuke (the other physio at Evangel) I decided it was not worth me going into the department as it was very unlikely that any outpatients would turn up and Atinuke would be able to manage the ward patients. During the morning one of the house helps who cooks for people on the compound, came to Challenge. Thankfully her area had not been affected by the violence but it had been affected by the 24 hour curfew. She needed some money to buy food as her supplies had run out at home. As no one had been able to go out to buy food for the last two days the people in her local area had shared all the food they had with those who didn’t have, so now they had run out. It was interesting to hear how the community pulled together to help each other and I wondered whether people in the UK would have shared their food in the same way had they been put in the same position. Some people on the compound helped her out with money and then we gave her a lift back to her house. There were not many cars on the road but there was a heavy military presence. We went through at least 4 or 5 military checkpoints on the 3 mile trip to her house. And then we returned to the compound. We then spent another day pretty much cooped up in the compound and tensions started to rise a little. A combination of stress, spending too much time together and having a lot of surplus energy to use meant that things were not as relaxed on the compound, but we managed to get along and still, at least we had the great pork meat to share and that raised everyone’s spirits.
On Friday, after having another long lie in as there was nothing to do before 10am, I got up and we decided that we needed to go and use some of our energy up, so a few of us from the compound went to Hillcrest to play sports. After running around the track a couple of times I tried my hand at tennis, and found out that time has not improved my racket skills, but at least the effort managed to use up some of the excess energy. We then returned to Challenge for more communal meals and spending time together, but this time with a slightly more relaxed atmosphere.
Saturday was a day of much the same. The curfew remained from 5pm -10am and there wasn’t much more for us to do than any of the other days. However, some of the people from the compound went out to a village where they work at a care centre for children. The village was badly affected by the crisis and a lot of the houses had been burnt and people had been forced to flee. Thankfully the care centre itself had not been affected apart being in the middle of the commotion. The Nigerian staff living there had needed to be on guard every night to make sure they were safe so they were very tired and traumatised from the events that took place in the village. This in turn had an effect on the missionaries from my compound who went out there to talk to them. They had been in contact with them over the previous week by phone, but to see them face to face and to hear the stories of what they had been through was pretty disturbing. When they came back to the compound they needed a de-briefing of their own and it was good for them to be able to just talk about the day and their feelings. As much as during the week it felt like the problems could have been on the other side of the world whilst we were safely locked up in our compound, when you hear stories and see the aftermath of the problems in a place where you have worked for a long time it really brings it all into reality.
On Sunday we had a change to our schedule, we could go to church. But with the curfew still till 10am the service time was shifted to 10.30. It was strange to drive into the church compound and see a military armoured personnel carrier driving out. I wasn’t sure whether that made me feel more or less safe!! During the service there was a very definite subdued atmosphere in the church and the worship band was replaced by just an organ. There was a time of prayer and then a sermon by Pastor Maigadi the senior pastor. We then returned home and reflected on how long the last week had seemed since the start of the crisis the Sunday before. That evening we heard that the curfew would be changed to 6pm to 6am from the next day.
With the new curfew hours, on Monday things started to get back to normal. I was able to go back to work and although there was definite tension in Jos the streets began to return to their usual selves. The only exception was that there was a notable lack of achabas (motorbike taxis) on the roads. This was due to a ban that had been put in place due to the crisis. This meant that the roads were much quieter and easier to drive. Unfortunately it didn’t last too long as over the following days the number of achabas gradually increased as they realised that the law couldn’t be enforced.
So that was the 2010 Jos Crisis, or so we thought. The tension remained high in Jos and seemed to gradually go down, or maybe we just got more used to it. The military presence in Jos remained high and there were regular checkpoints along the roads. As we went through the end of January and into February, the tension remained and we continued to hear stories of areas of unrest and violence around Plateau State and close to Jos. Things didn’t seem to settle and rumours of reprisal attacks, bomb threats and other types of unrest continued to circulate maintaining the unrelaxed atmosphere. But it wasn’t until the weekend of Sunday 7th March that the tension really rose again. A number of villages a few miles from Jos were attacked and over 100 of the inhabitants (mainly women and children) were killed. We had not heard anything about it and that day had happily gone to for a relaxing afternoon at a swimming pool a little way outside Jos. It wasn’t until the evening that we started to get messages from relatives at home who had heard of the attacks on the news.
On Monday 8th March there was high tension again in Jos. Rumours were circulating and people were really on edge. This led to suddenly around mid-morning everyone in Jos panicking and deciding to leave the city centre, pick their children up from school and go home. We had a few messages from our SIM security committee and eventually we were advised to stay at home. I was at work at the time and decided to stay there until things calmed down. By mid-afternoon the roads were very quiet and I got home without any problems. The next day people returned to Jos city centre and got back to work, but the tension still remained. There were more reports of trouble in various areas around Jos and we were advised to avoid these areas. Then on Tuesday evening there was a significant episode of unrest right by one of the other SIM compounds and the military were called in to bring it under control. Wednesday morning was calmer and people went about their usual activities, whatever they were. Thursday saw the women of Jos move into action. They had organised a march calling for peace which marched from the House of Assembly in Jos to the Governor’s house a little way outside of Jos. Thankfully the last few days have seen a continued reduction in the level of tension, but it is still very palpable. Rumours are still going round and people are still very much on edge. All we can do is hope and pray that we have seen the last of the violence in Jos, but unfortunately only time will tell.
