By Ishola Balogun
Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has condemned the killings in Plateau State, just as it slammed the Plateau State Governor for seeking to trivialize the attack on Muslim travellers by his kinsmen.
Last Friday, a bus carrying twenty-eight (28) Muslim passengers, mostly Hausas, was ambushed by suspected youths from Mangun village, Mangu Local Government Area, eight were brutally murdered, six sustained various degrees of injuries, one very critical while four others are still missing.
In a statement issued on Monday, the group described the attack as most horrendous, totally egregious and categorically preposterous. It also referred to the governor’s statement after the attack as an unapologetic ‘apology’. The statement was signed by the Executive Director of the faith-based non-governmental organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The full statement reads:
“A bus carrying twenty-eight (28) Muslim passengers, mostly Hausas traveling from Zaria to Qua’an-Pan in Plateau State, was ambushed by suspected youths from Mangun Village, Mangu Local Government Area on Friday, 20th June, 2025. Eight (8) Muslims were brutally murdered, six sustained various degrees of injuries, one very critical while four others are still missing.
“We condemn the killings in the strongest terms. It is most horrendous, totally egregious and categorically preposterous.”
“This zone has become a killing ground particularly for Muslim travellers. Unfortunately the rampaging youth have also become unrepentant in their killing sprees going by other attacks on Muslims carried out by them in the past. Christians in Plateau State have become slaves of their own perception. To them, every Muslim is a legitimate killing target.
“But the Governor of Plateau State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, did not help matters as he attempted to obfuscate the gravity of the offence under atmospheric volatility. He said the brutal killings occurred because the Muslim travellers ‘lost their way and inadvertently ran into a tense and volatile situation in Mangun, a community grappling with sustained terrorist attacks.’
“Since when did losing one’s way become an excuse for his being killed? How can a whole governor, a learned barrister at law, rationalise criminal and barbaric killing with a volatile and tense situation? Plateau State leaders and elders are complicit.
“We are therefore constrained to conclude that Governor Muftwang has not encouraged the youth under him to manifest remorse, rather he has sought to trivialise the odious and odoriferous crime. He has also given them kudos for a job well done. That statement is best described as an unapologetic ‘apology’.
“MURIC finds this disturbing considering several massacres and killings of Muslim travellers along the same axis which have ended in no punishment for the culprits but with the governors apologizing on behalf of the youth only for the same youth to go back to the roads seeking more Muslim travellers to ambush, kill, dismember and cannibalise (we have the records).
*“We call the attention of the Federal Government, Nigerians of goodwill and the international community, particularly the gullible West and its asymmetrical media team to the terror zone of Plateau State where Muslims have become easy preys.”
“The Divisional Police Officer in Mangun, the Commissioner of Police in Kaduna State and the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) must tell Nigerians how many suspects have been arrested over this horrible killings otherwise Nigerians can be assured that these blood thirsty youths will pounce on the next Muslim travellers who ply their route. Muslims have become endangered species in Plateau State.
“We commiserate with the bereaved families, the government of Kaduna State, the Emir of Zaria and the good people of Kaduna State. We also pray that the dead among the victims be granted al-jannah Firdaus.”
