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Jos
Rayfield, The Generals’ Fortress
A serene, luxuriant
and quiet neighbourhood, Rayfield in Jos, Plateau State gradually
acquires the status of home to some of the nation’s army of retired
Generals,
Reports TONY
IYARE
Besides the
high walls casting a veil on the exotic palatial mansions, its grandeur
of power strikes you as the equivalent of Abuja’s Asokoro district.
As home of the Plateau State governor, the headquarters of 3rd Armoured
Battalion, and a station of the Nigerian Air Force, Rayfield, located
east of Jos City is a plum neighbourhood inhabited by the wheelers
and dealers in a state where tin mining has gone on for over a century.
Of late this choice abode like the areas adjourning the popular
Jabi Street in Kaduna, has caught the fancy of retired generals
who have pitched tents beside each other.
Beginning from
retired Lt Gen Domkat Bali, former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Major General Godwin Ejiga, leader of the Nigerian troops that mediated
in the 1990 Chadian conflict, Major General Emmanuel Abisoye, a
former commander of the Army’s 3rd Mechanised Division, Major General
Joshua Dongoyaro, who had a short stint as chief of defence staff,
Brigadier General John Shagaya and Navy Commodore Lamba Gwom, both
former Internal Affairs ministers, the roll call of retired generals
who live here is almost endless. Even former military governors
like retired Colonel Mike Torey, Air Commodore Jonah David Jang
and Wing Commander Isa Mohammed who held forte in Enugu, Benue and
old Gongola states have also found a fortress in Rayfield. No doubt
the control of political power by the military for about 30 years
of the nation’s independence aside from bastardising the polity,
engendered the appropriation of the largesse of office in terms
of choice lands and fat foreign accounts. Many have become owners
of prime estates while others radiate their eminence in the corporate
world.
What is the
peculiar attraction of Rayfield that generals would pay anything
to flock together in retirement here? Shagaya who relieved Major
General Tunji Olurin as ECOMOG commander in Liberia in 1993, says
he does not understand the fuss about generals living in Rayfield
which also shares boundary with Millionaire quarters, another exclusive
settlement in Jos for the rich. “It is a question of expansion in
development. As some of us grew in career, what is known today as
the GRA in Jos at the point and time that some of us were looking
for good land to develop retirement property was exhausted either
by senior government officials or those who have been there at the
inception of the state in 1967. So our living around Rayfield is
just a coincidence of history”, he explained, arguing that like
anybody from Enugu or Ibadan, “after a very hard service of over
30 years, I don’t believe that you want to go and buy a property
in the noisiest area of Lagos because you want to show that you’re
the biggest general that ever lived”. In the view of Shagaya, also
a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council AFRC, the highest policy
making organ under the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, “a retired
man needs a quiet place to put his bungalow, that is my understanding
of retirement.
You’ve worked
hard and you want to rest your life, so you avoid the hustle and
bustle of town life”. While the history of the growth of Jabi Street
area as home to retired military bigwigs like General Yakubu Gowon,
former Head of State, Lt Gen Theophilus Danjuma, defence minister
and former chief of Army Staff, the now deceased Brigadier Musa
Usman, former governor of defunct North Eastern State, Colonel Musa
Kaliel, former governor of old Bauchi State and Colonel Yohanna
Madaki, former governor of defunct Gongola State among others, could
be traced to the era of Brigadier General Abba Kyari, pioneer governor
of old North Central State who began a deliberate policy of allocating
land in this plum area of Kaduna to his colleagues. It is not clear
which of the former governors of Plateau State began the allocation
which favoured the generals in the allocation of land in Rayfield.
Like Jabi Street, Rayfield is not entirely reserved for retired
military officers.
They have civilian
neighbours some of who are either serving or former governors. One
of them, Prince Abubakar Audu, Kogi State governor whose house is
just a shouting distance to the Government House in Rayfield could
be considered a friend. He is not known with a history of ruffling
feathers of the military.. But close to Jabi Street is the house
of a not too friendly neighbour, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a fiery former
civilian governor of old Kaduna State. Impeached for his uncompromising
stance by the National Party of Nigeria NPN dominated House of Assembly
in the Second Republic, Balarabe has remained a fervent critic of
military rule. He may have attracted their ire when he snubbed the
game of polo, a pastime of retired military officers and their ilk
in the early days of his turbulent reign. “
As a ploy to
get me into their fold, they gave me a complete kits for playing
polo which I immediately presented to my driver because I was not
interested”, Balarabe mused in an interview with the New York Times
early last year. Apart from Kaliel and Madaki with whom he exchanges
occasional discourses, others have kept their distance. Although
the generals who reside in Rayfield are at home with playing golf
or polo, they presently seem to be turning their backs to a new
resort, Rayfield Holiday Resort Hotel whose owner hails from Benue
State. According to Prince Chima, manager of the budding hotel located
on a fine piece of land bordering a lake, the generals are not part
of their regular patrons some of who come from beyond Rayfield.
“They prefer to stay in their exclusive villas”, he said.
The hotel whose
guest chalets is under construction plays host to many white guests
particularly during the dry season. Many of its guests are attracted
to the rowing facility provided on the lake. With three exit points,
a visitor has the option of approaching Rayfield either through
the road from Bukuru, the abattoir road or the main highway by NASCO
junction. A plot of land in this low density area is N70,000, which
is at per with what it goes for at Millionaires quarters. For many
average Jos residents, this is on the high side. They would prefer
to reach for cheaper plots in low profile areas like Tundunwada,
Gada Biyu and Lamingo where the prices range between N20,000 and
N55,000. With increasing influx to Jos by people who previously
had their families and businesses in sharia states like Sokoto,
Zamfara, Bornu and Kano, the cost of these plots may likely hit
the roof. The evolution of Rayfield strikes at the soul of the growth
of Jos town. The site of the old Jos Airport now transformed into
a station of the Air Force, Rayfield along with Bukuru, Sabongida
Kanar and Bisichi was also famous as the centre of the second phase
of tin mining activities in the Plateau region.
This era saw
the exploitation of mines with a lot of heavy earth moving machines
that hasten the degradation of the environment. One of the pits
arising from years of extensive tin mining which has now transformed
into a lake is what the owner of Rayfield Holiday Resort Hotel is
exploiting for rowing activities.
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