From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed sadness over killing of 12 wedding guests traveling from Kaduna to Plateau State penultimate weekend by yet- to- be identified hoodlums in Mangu Local Government, Plateau State.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Tukur Muhammad-Baba, he said the forum deeply mourned the dead, requesting the Federal Government and security agencies to arrest and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“The ACF is yet again terrified to receive the tragic loss of 13 lives, including women and children, sequel to an attack on a bus carrying wedding guests and passing through Mangu, Mangu LG , Plateau state, in the night of June 20, 2025. ACF deeply mourns the dead and unequivocally condemns the tragic attack.
“Perhaps, as insensitively suggested in an initial visceral insinuation by an official of the Plateau state government, the wedding party was just unfortunate to be at the wrong place and time. However, testimonies by survivors clearly point to a deliberate bloodthirsty mission by the perpetrators. Also, the testimony of a survivor as told to Governor Uba Sani was very clear: the victims were targeted on account of their perceived religious identities.
“No one should be deceived about the source of the problem; and the in-convenient truth about them must be faced if the country expects, as it should, remedies to the tragedies. Episodic way laying and murder of innocent travellers in Plateau State, based on perceived ethno-religious identities, have been going on for a considerable while.
“Evidentially, many such incidents have gone unreported or otherwise suppressed by the national and international press alike. The heinous murder of over 26 travellers, returning from a religious gathering at Bauchi on the 14th of August 2021 has not been forgotten, as the dastardly murder of a high-ranking army officer, under similar circumstances, on 3rd September 2018 remained fresh in the mind.
“Indeed, investigations into the murder of the military whose body was found on 31st October 2018, had unearthed evidence of many travellers to and from places such as Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and other states, while on transit on roads and highways in Plateau state, had suffered similar fates.
“The Mangu incident provides an opportunity to initiate action to stop the needless murders. The pledge by the Plateau State Government to deal with the Mangu tragedy itself does not inspire. Suspected murderers of the late General, whose prosecution the Government of Plateau insisted on handling are still, rather counterintuitively, roaming free.
“The Federal Government must insist on handling the investigations and further necessary action. Kaduna State Governor Senator Uba Sani, Amnesty International and others have called for investigations, in which regards ACF welcomes pledge by His Excellency Caleb Muftwang, Plateau State Governor to fish out the attackers for prosecution (22 persons are already apprehended), but this must be done by a non-partisan Federal security outfit(s) soonest with the outcome made public without delay.
“It is not just travellers, but the economy as well as intergroup relations in Plateau state that are suffering the negative consequences of the high-way/road attacks. For the umpteenth time, ACF draws the attention of governments at all levels to the rapidly deterioration state of security in Arewa communities and elsewhere in Nigeria.
“The killing sprees must be stopped without resort to stale denials, dithering, equivocation and specious hubris of being in control as often bandied by Federal security agencies.Insecurity remains a potent existential threat to national security, unity, social cohesion and nation building and the fight against it must involve everyone and everything.
“Therefore, ACF reiterates its calls on the FGN to re-strategise the fight against the purveyors of terror, declare a total war against all savage scallywags in the country, implement effective early-warning and early-response strategies, incorporate the participation of community members in anti-insecurity tactics, rejig security intelligence gathering, processing and the effective deployment of personnel to contain security threats and, most importantly, to investigate, identify, arrest and prosecute perpetrators and enablers of the attacks.
“ACF calls on community leaders, elders, clergy, traditional leaders, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to intensify engagements to encourage community dialogue for conflict resolution, reconciliation and cooperation; and ACF also calls on citizens to furnish supply security agencies with credible information on the activities of terror gangs”. The statement said.