Anguwan Rukuba: The Massacre Was Brutal, But It Is Not a Religious Genocide –By Muhammad Bashir Abdulhafiz

I am a young Nigerian who loves this country. I was born after democracy, but I have grown up watching our nation bleed from one conflict to another. In the past few days, grief has once again visited Plateau State. The recent attack on Anguwan Rukuba in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State broke my heart once again. The attack left scores dead, homes destroyed, and families shattered. My heart bleeds. Every life lost is a failure of our collective humanity. Many innocent people lost their live. Families will never be the same again.

But in the midst of this sorrow, I have watched with alarm as a dangerous narrative spreads across social media and community discussions: that this attack was a ‘religious genocide’ against Christians or Muslims. Meaning that Muslims are trying to wipe out Christians, or the other way around. Some have rushed to label it a systematic extermination of one faith by the other.

I write today to say this clearly: The Anguwan Rukuba attack was a terrible crime, but it is NOT a religious genocide. And if we continue to call it that, we will only make things worse. Genocide is not simply mass killing. Legally and morally, it means the deliberate, systematic, and organized destruction of an entire religious, ethnic, or national group. The world saw this in Rwanda in 1994, where the government and militias organized to wipe out a particular ethnic group. When Hutus tried to kill every Tutsi man, woman, and child. That is genocide.

What happened in Anguwan Rukuba, no matter how brutal, does not fit this definition. Preliminary reports from security agencies and local testimonies point to a longstanding land dispute, exacerbated by criminal bands and local political rivalries, that exploded into communal violence. Both Muslims and Christians have been victims of such cycles in Plateau State for over two decades. This is not a war of one religion against another. It is a war of armed criminals against innocent people of both faiths. If it were a religious genocide, one faith would be completely gone from the area by now. That is not the case.

I beg every citizen of Plateau State, Muslim and Christian alike to understand this point. When you call this attack a religious genocide, you are doing the work of the real enemies: bandits, politicians who benefit from chaos, and criminals who want us to hate each other.

If a Christian believes Muslims are trying to exterminate him, he may pick up a machete against his Muslim neighbour who had nothing to do with the attack, or his Muslim neighbour who sells him vegetables. If a Muslim believes Christians are conspiring to wipe him out, he may retaliate against a Christian family that shares his struggle for water and land, or he may burn the church of a Christian friend who once helped him pay hospital bills. Soon, what began as a criminal conflict becomes a full religious war. That is exactly what the evil people want.

We have seen this pattern before in Jos, in Kaduna, in other parts of the Middle Belt. The moment we name it ‘religious genocide’, we stop looking for the real causes, which are poor governance, unequal access to land, weak policing, and political incitement. But instead blame an entire faith. Please do not give them that victory.

To my Christian brothers and sisters: Your tears are valid. Your pain is real. Mourn your dead. Cry out for justice. But do not let anger blind you that every Muslim is you enemy. Remember the Muslim woman who sells you groundnuts. Remember the Muslim man who repaired your roof last year. They are not your enemies. Remember that many Muslim communities in Plateau have also lost sons to this same cycle of violence. The enemy is the criminal with a gun, not the neighbor with a different faith.

To my Muslim brothers and sisters: Do not feel attacked by this article. Instead, be the first to condemn the killing of any innocent person, whether Christian or Muslim. Show your Christian neighbor that your religion teaches peace. The Qur’an says, ‘Whoever kills an innocent soul, it is as if he killed all of humanity’ (Qur’an 5:32). Speak this truth loudly. Stand with your Christian neighbors in condemning these killings. Show them that your faith commands peace.

To everyone: Stop sharing videos or messages that label the killers as ‘Muslim terrorist’ or ‘Christian militias’ without proof. If you do not know the identity of the killers, do not invent it. Instead, share messages of peace and unity. Most of those videos are fake or old. Visit your neighbor of a different faith today. Sit together. Say plainly: ‘I will not let criminals divide us’.

Advice to Those in Authority

Your Excellencies, governors, security chiefs, local government chairmen, and traditional rulers, we are tired of press releases that condemn violence but do nothing to stop it. Here is what you must do:

First, arrest and prosecute the real killers quickly, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. Within one month, name the suspects. Within three months, convict perpetrators. Impunity is the mother of these attacks.

Second, create joint peace committees in every ward of Plateau State. Each committee should have equal numbers of Christians and Muslims, men and women, young and old. Give them a phone number to report hate speech or planned attacks before it becomes violence.

Third, solve the land problem. Most of these attacks start as fights over grazing routes, farms, and water. Create a state Land Mediation Council with real power. Let farmers and herders sit down with government officials and agree on boundaries.

Fourth, arrest anyone who preaches religious hate. If an imam, pastor, politician or community leader says, ‘Kill the infidels’ or ‘Destroy the unbelievers’, arrest them. Free speech does not include the right to incite murder.

I am not naive. I know that religion has been used to divide us for decades. I know that some evil people do kill others simply because they are Christian or Muslim. But that is not the same as a coordinated genocide. And if we accept the genocide narrative, we accept that there is no solution except separation or endless war.

I refuse to accept that. Nigeria is bigger than its killers. Plateau State has a beautiful history of Muslims and Christians celebrating festivals together, eating together, rebuilding burned homes together, and burying their dead together. That is the real Plateau, and that is our true history.

Let us mourn. Let us demand justice. But let us not turn a criminal attack into a religious war. That is exactly what the enemy wants. Peace is possible. But only if we refuse to call every crime a genocide, and instead call it what it is: a crime against our common humanity.

May God heal Plateau State.
May God unite Nigeria.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Muhammad Bashir Abdulhafiz wrote from Jos, and can be reached via abdulhafizmuhammad81@gmail.com instantly.