Justice Minister and AG-Federation, Adetokunbo Kayode has been quoted as reacting to the latest wave of genocide in Jos, Plateau State thus: "It will not happen again. The unfortunate issue of unrest in Jos has been brought under control. We are doing everything possible to put an end to its occurrence. It will not happen again." Is this fellow from outer space? He uses the phrase: "unfortunate issue of unrest." To describe the situation as unfortunate is to understate the tragedy. And was that an unrest? It was something worse than tragic. And who says it will not happen again? I say it will. And I add that the fire next time may be bigger than this. It is also not true that the "unrest has been brought under control". On bold display on the streets of Jos is the failure, again of the Nigerian government, the utter collapse of the state and the idiocy of the leadership elite.

Each time the fire burns in Jos, and the cost is measured in spilled blood, lives cut short, properties destroyed, the boundaries of hate are further extended, the fracture lines in Nigeria are similarly extended. By the time a proper stock is taken of the number of lives that have been lost in recurrent ethno-religious and political/economic violence in Plateau state since 2001, we may well discover that what we have in that state is a tragedy worse than the genocide in Rwanda or the earthquake in Haiti. In Jos, people go to bed at night, believing that all is well and that the next morning will meet them in good health, only to be driven out of their homes and slaughtered, men, women, children, by a band of marauders, baying for blood. The latest incident with the Beroms as target was clearly an act of genocide. The Fulanis attacked the Beroms, catching them off-guard, killing about 600. All the assailants were said to be Muslims, and the victims, Christians. We all know why this has happened.

In the 2008 conflict over the council elections in Jos North, and the recent attacks in January 2010, the Christians and the indigenes had an upper hand over the Fulani settlers. The Fulani political elite, including the President, were reportedly unhappy about what was done to "their people." If there was any doubt that this was the case, the suspicion was confirmed by the cold war in 2008/9 between the state Governor, Jonah Jang, a Christian Berom and the President, a Fulani. Rather than work together to address the core issues fuelling the crisis, the Federal Government set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the killings in Jos North, the state government also set up a separate panel: the fight over the control of Jos and the Plateau had been translated into the corridors of power at the highest levels. So why should anyone be surprised that the latest crisis has occurred in spite of the two so-called peace panels, with one having submitted its report? By its own conduct, government, federal, state and local, has shown itself to be terribly conflicted in this crisis. Nigerian leaders behaving like ethnic champions and using the resources of the state to fight ethnic, primordial battles transform themselves into agents of destruction. They serve us badly. The ground for the latest mayhem was set in 2008, and again in January 2010, with the government refusing to address the obvious challenge of justice to put a check on the murderous reign of impunity. People at the highest levels were more pre-occupied with protecting their own, and in the process, they were unwittingly asking their people to get ready to fight again and exact revenge.

Their partisanship in this matter is well illustrated by the breakdown of communication between the state Governor and the military authorities in the latest incident. Jang says he had informed the military chief in Jos of suspicious movements in Jos South on Saturday, and that the GOC, Major General Maina Saleh had promised to move troops to the area to hold the peace. He didn't. When it became evident that a crisis was truly afoot, Jang said he again tried to reach the military hierarchy on phone for more than three hours but all their phones were switched off. Jang was himself a military officer. He couldn't reach anybody in his former constituency. In 2008, he also could not reach anybody on time. Nobody can be reached whenever Nigeria is aflame: all the security chiefs and those who can issue commands suddenly go out of circulation.

The GOC of the Joint Military Special Task Force for Plateau State, Maina Saleh has denied Jang's allegations. There has been some silly talk also about sending and receiving text messages. We should join all the relatives of the victims of the Jos genocide in weeping inconsolably. So, they now run Nigeria with text messages? I imagine that some of the people who were supposed to act at the critical moment had their phones switched off, or they had a problem of low battery which is a common occurrence here given the epileptic nature of power supply, or take this: there was network problem, or better still, the Commanding Officers in both the military and the police had put their phones in a silent mode, not wanting to be disturbed at night, at a time they were busy with matters of urgent private importance between the sheets! That is how they run Nigeria! The result is that the people of Plateau state have lost faith, I guess completely, in the security agencies. A regime of self-help obtains in the streets, with Christians and Muslims monitoring each other, with indigenes and settlers preparing for war. In Bukuru Gyel, the people even stoned soldiers accusing them of taking sides in the conflict. In Jos, the stage is properly set for Robert Kaplan's "anarchy."

But the Joint Task Force finally arrived, thank God the General Officer Commanding finally checked his phone and saw a text message informing him that Jos South was in turmoil, and he quickly mobilized his men. An equally sleepy Presidency also moved into action and put all the security agencies on alert. I have read some statements saying we have to be grateful to Dr Goodluck Jonathan for wading into the matter as soon as he woke up. He has also fired his National Security Adviser. The fellow I guess should be charged for a serious offence: "sleeping on duty." The underlying excuse is that the crisis in Jos is due to the failure of intelligence. But has there been any time in the last ten years that national intelligence has not failed us? In Jos in 2008, and in January 2010, and in Bauchi and the Boko Haram incidents, failure of intelligence was the big excuse.

What do our leaders do with their so-called security votes? What is the level of professionalism in the security agencies? Why is ours such an unintelligent nation? The genocidal, reprisal assault in Jos South was pre-meditated, carefully planned, to such detail that the Fulanis and the Muslims living in the affected communities had prior notice, and they had all evacuated the area before D-day. Jonathan didn't need to fire his National Security Adviser because of the crisis in Jos. He needed to fire him for a different reason: his own security and the security of his tenure, albeit an indeterminate tenure. We often tend to award Goodluck Jonathan less credit than he deserves. He is not exactly the political tyro that we take him to be: he is proving to be smarter than his critics think. In four quiet, well timed moves, so perfectly executed they did not attract attention, Jonathan has taken steps to consolidate his hold on power. He has gotten rid of Aondoakaa without spilling blood. He has built a network of influence for himself in the North and the business community by setting up his own Presidential Advisory Council. He may not consult anyone of them at any time, but these are Nigerians, they would all go about pretending to be in charge of Nigeria. Jonathan has also set up a committee to review the sale of NITEL; by the time that committee is through, a few heads may start rolling and they will roll in a manner that Jonathan's hands will be further strengthened. His new national security adviser is considered the country's topmost security professional. He has been in charge of national security almost all the time, going and coming. General Aliyu Gusau handling Jonathan's security sends a very powerful message to likely mischief makers and further reassures the political North. In the end, what looks like innocent interventions are power moves. Nothing has been done to reassure anyone that the turbulence in Jos "will not happen again."

The big challenge is the possibility of a religious war in that city or in Plateau state generally and beyond.. It is now so bad that Christian leaders are openly repudiating essential Christian doctrines. No one is willing to turn the other cheek. Christian leaders have barely stopped short of telling the congregation to acquire arms and ammunition and prepare to avenge the murder of innocent Christians- men, women and children. In every church today in Plateau state, the sermon from the pulpit may not be about forgiveness or the redemption of sinners. It is at moments like this that Christians call upon the proverbial Holy Ghost Fire to go out with forked tongues and burn down the enemy's stronghold. With churches and mosques becoming temples of hate, the country sits on a keg of explosives. The cost and effect of a religious war is hard to contemplate.

Daniel Howden writing in the Independent of London, March 13 conveys the weight of the tragedy that we face when he reports that"Sporadic gunshots have been heard most nights since the massacre. Almost a week has passed but there is no single truth about what actually happened in Jos; about who has died and how many have died; and about how the city, once known for tourism, has become a byword for sectarian slaughter..."

The challenge is in the area of justice. This is not about good Muslims and bad Muslims, not about good Christians and bad Christians, it is simply about bringing bad people to book and ensuring that all persons, irrespective of religion or identity live in communities where they can feel secure. The abject competition for space and power that has turned the Plateau into killing fields speaks directly to the unresolved problems of nationhood and citizenship and the failure of leadership. Acting President Jonathan must insist on justice being done. Every person who has been arrested for promoting the mayhem must have his or her day in court. There was an interesting story in The Punch newspaper, March 13: "Why we carried out the attacks - suspects", putting faces and reasons to the event. But doing justice is not just about the boys who wield the daggers and guns and petrol bombs, how about their sponsors, the faceless commanders who send the ethno-religious troops to battle? And those commanders are on both sides of the conflict. They pose the biggest threat to peace and stability. They are the terrorists that the state must fish out.

The Federal Government has already ordered a probe of the military and its role in the Jos crisis. Some retired military Generals are already protesting that the military should not be dragged into civilian politics or turned into a scapegoat for other people's failures. The Daily Trust echoed this sentiment in an editorial titled "Keep the military out of the pettiness" (Friday, March 12) drawing attention to the Jos crisis and the controversial deployment of soldiers the night President Yar'Adua purportedly sneaked into the country. The truth is that the military is as much a part of "the pettiness" as every other institution. It needs to put its house in order by staying on the path of professionalism. I do not share the view that the people should not ask the military questions. Questions should not only be asked, if there are heads that should roll within the military hierarchy, those heads should roll, Jonathan.