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 Chriatians 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 ovation 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.

“Think about this: has any terrorist gone into an empty mosque in Nigeria to attack it? Have they entered an empty church to stage an attack? What of empty schools and classrooms? Have they attacked any school during the holidays or at a weekend? They won’t do that because the school will be empty! The church is not the target. The mosque is not the target. The Muslim is not the target and the Christian is not the target. What they want are human beings for ransom. Think about it.

“Neither is there any truth behind what is referred to as ‘targeted killing of Christians’. What happens is that terrorists have a ‘crowd mentality’. They look for any place where they can get the largest number of people at a time. They want to attract maximum publicity in order to embarrass the government of the day.

“But at the same time, they want to make as much money as they can. It is just natural that mosques, churches and schools come to their minds. These are the places where people must congregate daily and weekly. They want to score the highest casualty figure possible in order to strike terror into the hearts of the people.

“If the theory of crowd mentality sits down well with Nigerians, we will understand what is going on and we will stop accusing one another of targeting each other. Terrorists seek to divide Nigerians along religious lines but we can defeat them by applying better and higher intellect.

“It is a matter that requires the application of our reasoning faculty. We do not need America to do that for us. Let the Federal Government, the Muslims and the Christians sit down together and find a way to make churches, mosques and schools safer. We will run the terrorists out of business in no time at all. ‘Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it’ (Proverbs 13:10).” (The Nation)