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A youth leader in Mangun District of Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State, Daniel Dawap, has revealed that most of the suspects who were arrested over the mob attack that led to the gruesome killing of 22 guests traveling from Kaduna State for a wedding ceremony in Quan Pa’an LGA, were picked up at drinking joints, farms and on their way from the popular Mangu Market two days after the incident.
The suspects were arraigned at a Jos High Court on Friday, July 11, over the lynching of the travellers, which occurred in the Mangun community on June 21, 2025.
In the tragic incident, a group of 31 wedding guests traveling from Basawa, Zaria in Kaduna, to Qua’an Pan LGA in Plateau, had reportedly missed their way and found themselves in Mangun, a community which had been reeling from bandit attacks.
Believing the travellers to be terrorists, angry youths descended on them and set the bus ablaze, an action that sparked widespread condemnation. The police swung into action and two days later, arrested 22 persons in connection with the attack.
But according to Dawap, most of the suspects may be innocent people who were caught at the wrong places.
The youth leader, who disclosed this to DAILY POST shortly after the suspects were arraigned and remanded at the Jos Correctional Center on Friday, wondered how the police were able to identify the culprits and arrest them days after the incident.
“Let me make one thing clear here. I am not holding brief for the suspects neither do I support the mob action that led to the unfortunate death of the travellers,” Dawap stated.
“No sane person would support such an action no matter the provocation. Yes, our community, like in other parts of Mangu Local Government Area and some other parts of the state have been under constant attacks by bandits and terrorists but that does not give any reason for the mob attack of June 21.
“But that said, I can tell you that most of the people arrested who were charged to court today did not even know anything about the incident.
“Some of them were arrested at Burukutu drinking joints, some while doing their guza (tin mining) work, some guys were arrested right in their farms while two of my cousins were arrested on their way back from Mangu Market.
“The police stormed Mangun community two days after the incident and began arresting people randomly. Anyone who could not bring out money to settle the police was bundled into a police Hilux and taken away to Jos as a suspect.
“On behalf of Mangun Youth Forum, we want the police to conduct a thorough investigation with a view to unveiling the real culprits instead of bunching all of them together because the innocent ones among them will suffer for an offence they did not commit,” he concluded.
