Plateau STF, Community Service, And The Riyom Two

BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY

Like a case of mistaken identity in some trage-comedy, recent reports claiming that the Special Military Task Force vested with the responsibility of restoring enduring peace, harmonious community relations and intercultural tolerance among residents of the state since recurrent communal violence became a feature of the state’s sociology back in 2004, was complicated in the unfortunate death of three youths of Riyom, is no less unfortunate, especially as it misrepresents the truth, and good intentions of the STF.

The Military outfit – the STF, is apparently unlucky that what started as a consensual initiative with a tripod in its community development commitment, has been haunted by accident and death. Again, the misfortune was confounded and compounded when local propaganda sought to politicize the sad development, manipulate the facts or truth of the story to worsen the anger and emotions of the grieving and bereft populace, to blackmail the interventionist military programme and portray it in deadly, irresponsible, and undesirable light.

For sure, since it started operating as an intervention agency moderating festered tribal relations and cultural suspicions in the state, the STF has had its ups and downs, lows and highs, and has failed in one or more cases just as it has walked incredible mileage to restore peace and security in the areas that give territory to it’s jurisdiction.

In this particular case of the Riyom three who died in a well near the STF check point in Riyom, our investigation reveals that the facts of the story have been mangled, and the story line manipulated to score undeserved points and cheap popularity to discredit the STF.

It was gathered during investigation that the STF, a crisis-management establishment also referred to as Operation Safe Haven, decided to increase the community’s access to potable water by cleaning up a well in Sopp village which was sunk in 1985 but has since been abandoned. It was also confirmed that four persons from the local community were contracted to do the job; and were indeed paid the agreed fee before they embarked on doing the job they had been paid to do.

Part of the equipment the four needed to clean up the well was a generator set. According to the story, on the day the four set out to do the work, everything was peaceful until it was noticed after two of the workers had gone into the well that the generator they took in had produced too much smoke. This created anxious moments especially as there was no voice message from the duo who had gone into the well. At this point, it was gathered, those gathered outside by the well tied a rope to the waist of the third partner, and lowered him into the well where he established that the first two who entered the well earlier with the generator had indeed died as they were drowned in the well.

It was at this point that the handshake by the STF elicited a shove and push by irate youths of the community who did not only accuse the STF of criminal complicity and premeditated murder of their colleagues, but promptly mobilized and stormed the nearby STF checkpoint, but assailed remorseful men in uniform who watched the angry natives sack the checkpoint and the Sector base, and destroyed about six vehicles in the course of the protest. Beyond this, the anger and protest of the people over reached their justification and at that point clashed with military pride, professionalism, and rules of engagement.

It was learnt from local sources that the STF men did not really respond violently to the protesters. It appears this initial indifference disposition of the uniform men encouraged the native army to overlap and extract more than a pound of flesh as they engaged the soldiers, struggled to seize their guns from them, and subject them to conventional military conquests.

Sources in Riyom and warfare analysts are agreed that this neck-to-neck situation was provocative and frustrating enough to force men of the STF to open gun fire in self defense and to protect their occupational paraphernalia and aver to one of their rules of engagement. Analysts thus see the aftermath of it all, especially trading of blames and war of words, as routine stench of a tragedy which immediate is mismanaged or bungled.

Given the surge of the offensive, casualties were bound to issue from the encounter. To brand one of the casualties as victim of romantic malice is dismissed by analysts as wayside blackmail, or at best low profile politicization of a tragedy that occurred in really unfortunate circumstances and should have been regarded as such.