The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned that terrorists are no longer targeting specific religious groups but are instead focusing on attacking large crowds.
The alert was issued in a statement signed by MURIC’s Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, and made available to journalists on Saturday.
Akintola explained that current findings show terrorists are not deliberately targeting Muslims and their mosques or Christians and their churches. Instead, he said, they have developed what he described as a “crowd mentality.”
He noted that this crowd-driven approach stems from the belief that people often feel safer or more comfortable in crowded spaces—whether for worship, social activities, or entertainment—making such places easy targets.
According to him, terrorists now strike locations with large gatherings to maximise casualties or orchestrate mass kidnappings for higher ransom payments.
Akintola stressed that this pattern explains why schools, churches, and mosques are frequently attacked, emphasizing that the motive is primarily economic rather than religious.
“In the midst of a prolonged and extensive national conversation on the controversial Christian genocide narrative, we find it apt to propound a theory of ‘crowd mentality’ to further enrich the national thought process.
“Having engaged in debates severally on the subject matter and deliberated on the motivation for attacks on mosques, churches and schools, we have come to the conclusion that terrorists and bandits are not actually targeting Muslims and their mosques or going after Christians and their churches, they have only developed a ‘crowd mentality.
“Crowd mentality’ is a situation where people look for or feel more comfortable or safer in crowded places either for attacks or entertainment. For terrorists, targeting places where people assemble in large numbers is for the purpose of maximizing ransom or ensuring high death toll. This explains why they often attack mosques, churches and schools. It is not religion. It is the quest for wealth.
“Terrorists are not interested in religion. All they want is to maximise the amount they can collect as ransom when a large number of people are kidnapped and the best place where they can find people in large numbers are mosques, churches and schools. It is ‘crowd mentality’.
“Entertainers and musicians will not show interest in performing where there is no crowd. They lose appetite for singing or dancing in quiet lanes and deserted streets but their spirits rise when the ovasion is loud from the crowded audience. It is ‘crowd mentality’.
“Whereas the Christian genocide narrative is pregnant with emotions, offensive and lacks objectivity, the ‘crowd mentality’ theory is more liberal and less offensive to any group. It admits that Muslims, Christians and even schools are being attacked. Of course no rightful thinking person can deny this.”
Wale Igbintade
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