Jos mayhem: CAN, Igbo community want corpses exhumed for identification

The youth wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria has asked the Plateau State government to exhume all the bodies buried in mass graves for proper identification.

The association, at a press briefing in Jos on Thursday, alleged that over 500 Christians could not be accounted for after the mayhem.


Its President, Mr. Adamu Bala, said, “The acclaimed 400 corpses buried by the Muslim community should be exhumed and examined to determine their true identities and weapons employed, especially as our ongoing census has revealed that over 500 Christians are still missing (possibly dead).”

Also, a fresh controversy has arisen over the identities of the victims of the Jos crisis as the Igbo community on Thursday, claimed that their kiths were among those buried in mass graves.


They are, therefore, demanding that the bodies be exhumed for proper identification.


This is coming as the authorities of the Jos University Teaching Hospital have stopped the burial of victims of the crisis until they were properly identified and released to their relations.

Spokesman of the Igbo community in Jos, Chief Chidi Ndu, said in a statement in Jos on Thursday, that the community had been besieged by grieving families still looking for their loved ones and feared that they might have been among the hundreds of bodies given mass burial by the Muslim community.


Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency has requested the Nigerian Airforce to fly the remains of the three corps members who lost their lives in the Jos mayhem.


According to a statement by the Head of Press and Public Relations, NEMA, in Abuja on Thursday, Mr.Yushau Shuaib, the corpses of the victims would be conveyed to their families in Lagos and Ibadan.

The decision to fly them to their states, Shuaib said, was in recognition of their contribution to their fatherland during the mandatory national service and to lessen the burden of the bereaved families.

The deceased were corps members deployed to Plateau State for their national service. They were killed when hoodlums invaded their residence in Jos during the crisis that followed local government elections in the state.

The NYSC authorities had given the names of the deceased as Leke Akande, 23, Tola Odusola, 20, and Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, 23.


Similarly, the Muslim Ummah in the South-West has condemned the last Friday riot which resulted in wanton destruction of lives and property.

Addressing a press conference in Ibadan, on Thursday, the Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Prof. Dawud Noibi, said that the Muslim community in the zone was dismayed at the incident.

He said the press conference was specifically called to highlight the importance of the full enrolment of Muslim children for the Universal Basic Education programme.

Noibi said that the community was also poised to encourage adult Muslims to take full advantage of the adult literacy programmes of the scheme.

Condoling with the families of the victims, the Ummah appealed to the National Assembly and the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council to carry out thorough investigation into the mayhem.

The body called for the promotion of steps that could promote sustained mutual trust and peaceful co-existence among the different ethnic and religious communities in the country.

In another development, the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has been commended for the timely evacuation of Delta citizens, including students of the University of Jos following the mayhem that engulfed the Plateau State capital last week.

Uduaghan had ordered the Delta State Emergency Relief Agency to carry out immediate evacuation of Deltans from the Jos metropolis.

Speaking to journalists when the over 180 students of UNIJOS and other Deltans arrived Asaba, on Thursday, President of Delta State Students Union, UNIJOS chapter, Mr. Augustine Eriga Johnson, thanked Uduaghan for his timely intervention in their plight.

it is really painful, the most scaring part is the corpers that lost their life, we in bauchi are even scared cos of the rumor we are hearing that they also want to retaliate in bauchi state, we are really praying to God to stop it

WHAT!
Nigeria is not safe @ all!
Riot, Militancy, Robbers, Tribal wars, electoral wars here nd there, Military harrasing innocent pple here nd there...watin dey happen 4 dis country sef?
I think say na only 9ja Delta no safe?
YAR ADUA! SIT Up! Tight up d security.