See if you can answer this question: when was the last bomb blast in Jos? And by extension, when was the last major attack in Riyom, Barkin Ladi or Jos South? If you can’t answer these two questions in a flash – then you should pause at this point and consider giving the Buhari administration a thumbs-up or a round of applause!

Well for record, the last bomb blast in Jos was on 15^th July 2015 at ECWA Bishara 1 Tudun Wada and the last major attack was on 10^th and 14^th October 2015, when up to 12 people were killed in Zawan and Rim villages (this is of course ignoring the ambush of small child Geoffrey on 15^th December 2015 on his way back from an errand as an outlier).

Now, to put into perspective the unusual nature of this “long period” when no attacks or bombings have happened, data from “ViewPointNigeria’s Plateau Attacks Database” shows that in 2015 there was an average of 3 attacks per month. With the average number of people killed per month at 22. In fact in 2014, the numbers were significantly higher – the attacks frequency per month was 4, while the average deaths per month was approx. 34.

By this time last year (1^st to 23^rd January 2015), approximately 19 people were already killed in Shonong, Atakar and Rim villages. If you consider that in 2016 in the same period, no attacks have occurred yet, then it begs the question –what has changed? Have the attackers all of a sudden become bored of killing? Or have they become merciful? The answer is neither. The answer lies in what has been happening in the last few months. Buhari’s anti-corruption war.

If Dasuki had $2.1 billion dollars to share around, with some people receiving up to $100 million, then it is easy to see how these colossal sums can end up in the hands of certain religious bigots who may wish to sponsor terror. In the hands of a diabolical person, $100 million dollar is a lot of money – to put it into perspective, when Goodluck Jonathan commissioned a few people to go to the black market in South Africa to buy arms for the Nigerian Army, they went with only $15 million dollar. If $15 million can buy sufficient arms for the whole of the Nigerian Army, then surely $100 million must be able to buy a whole arsenal of weapons, capable of bringing down a whole country.

Undoubtedly, it might be too early to cheer and celebrate that no attacks have happened in 2016 just yet –but it is equally easy to miss the link between the relative peace being enjoyed on the Plateau and the current clap-down on loose money which had hitherto permeated the whole space and may have been what has been used to finance terror on the Plateau.

This is not to say attacks may not occur again, but the link between the ongoing anti-corruption war and the break in attacks in Plateau is indeed obvious.

Dr. Chinan Mclean

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No attacks on the Plateau in 2016 – but who is the hero?