A former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has strongly condemned the recent killings in parts of Plateau State, warning against a resurgence of ethnic and religious profiling on highways.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Dalung described the killing of four young traders at Dorowa Babuje in Barakin Ladi Local Government Area on February 23 as barbaric and unacceptable.

He said he had believed the country had moved beyond what he termed a “dark era of profiling citizens on highways and slaughtering innocent travellers.”

According to him, the victims were reportedly on their way to Pankshin Monday Market when they were singled out and killed.

The incident, he noted, came barely a day after an attack on a hotel in the same community, where nine persons were said to have lost their lives.

Dalung also referenced reports of three young Fulani herdsmen who allegedly went missing and were later found dead.

He cautioned that such incidents risk fueling a dangerous cycle of reprisals across the state.

“It is barbaric, criminal and utterly unacceptable to block highways and murder innocent citizens who know nothing about the conflicts fueling these attacks. Collective punishment is not justice; it is savagery. Two wrongs can never make a right,” he stated.

While acknowledging the right of communities to defend themselves when attacked, the former minister stressed that retaliatory violence against harmless travellers would only deepen divisions and escalate tensions.

He called on security agencies to fulfill their constitutional mandate of protecting lives and property, urging them to identify and prosecute those responsible for the killings.

Dalung extended condolences to the families of the victims and appealed to residents of Plateau State to break the cycle of retaliation.

“Plateau has suffered enough. It is time to give peace a genuine chance,” he said.