The Muslim Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condemned Friday’s attack on Muslim worshippers in Ughelli, Delta, describing it as a deliberate hate crime against Muslims.

“This is a dastardly act that must be condemned by all right-thinking people, and we condemn it in the strongest terms,” said MURIC director Ishaq Akintola. “It is another evidence of hate crimes targeted at Muslims in the South-East in recent times.”

Last Friday, gunmen attacked a mosque in Ughelli, leaving 11 worshippers injured, with the imam kidnapped.

A resident said the attack occurred at about 6:47 a.m. when some Muslim faithful held their morning prayers at the Central Mosque, located along Okoroda street in Ughelli.

MURIC asked security agents to fish out the perpetrators and rescue the abducted imam.

“It will be recalled that the Secretary of the Delta State Muslim Council, Malam Musa Ugasa, a resident of Ughelli, was brutally killed earlier this year by yet-to-be-identified persons,” said the MURIC statement. “Those who claim that only Christians are being killed in Nigeria have many questions to answer.”

The Islamic group cited the killing of a cleric, Ibrahim Iyiorji, in Isu, on September 4 and seven others in Orogie, Imo, on August 5.

“Another four Muslims were killed in Umuaka, near Orlu, on April 4, 2021. Again, another set of 11 innocent Muslims was mowed down by gunmen in Port Harcourt and Orlu on October 20, 2020,” noted MURIC. “Five other Muslims were also killed near the popular Abraka market in Asaba, Delta State, on September 15, 2017. The list is endless.”

MURIC urged police commissioner Ari Muhammed Ali in Delta to investigate the matter and prosecute perpetrators.

“Muslims have become endangered species not only in Delta but in the entire South-East,” the statement claimed. “The trend must be arrested.”

(NAN)