From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
A Muslim group, Jama’atu Nasirl lslam (JNI), has warned of imminent breakdown of law and order in Plateau State and its environs if urgent steps were not taken to stop the profiling and killing of Muslims.
The group said no individual, ethnic or religious group should live under the illusion of having monopoly of violence, saying as long as government and its agencies continued to treat security threats with levity, anarchy and disorder would reign.
The warning was in response to the attack in Rukuba Road, Jos, Plateau State, on Saturday which resulted in the massacre of about 22 Muslims returning from Bauchi State on their way to Ikare, Ondo State, enroute Jos.
JNI, which said the act represented the height of bestiality and barbarism, however, appealed to the Ikare Muslim community of Ondo State to be calm with the expectation that something definite and decisive would be done by the federal and state governments to arrest and prosecute culprits of the datedly act.
Secretary-General of JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, who stated this in a statement, yesterday, frowned at claims by some people that the attack was that of mistaken identity insisting the claim was untrue.
He asked Christian neighbours, especially in Plateau State and northern Nigeria in particular to be wary of diabolical attempts by some frustrated politicians to ignite an all-out ethno-religious conflict in northern Nigeria.
“Many states in Northern Nigeria, especially Nasarawa and Kaduna states and by extension North West states have suffered from the scourge of herders/farmers conflict. It’s on records that Muslims in these states have never blocked highways or roads to attack Christians or other non-Muslims in their localities.
“It is a well-known fact that when indigenous peoples of Plateau rustled Fulanis cattle and
killed herders, and Fulanis take the laws into their hands, they quickly shout hell and target Muslims generally.
“Government cannot fold its arms and allow innocent Nigerians to be killed in this manner. They must be decisive in sending a message of deterrence. Be that as it may, the JNI is perplexed and bewildered over the seeming unfortunate mayhem that resurfaced in Jos and its environs, despite all the series of re-enforcements for peaceful co-existence in Plateau State.
“Clearly, there seems to be a well calculated design aimed at undermining and sabotaging the gain made so far. Likewise, the recent Jos mayhem witnessed a new trend adopted by murderers in targeting only Muslims while venting their anger.”