In a bizarre and gruesome case, a quiet community on the outskirts of Jos City was recently rocked by the murder of a university student, allegedly at the hands of his bosom friend. Peter Mafuyai, a 300-level student of the Department of Banking and Finance, was reportedly killed by his friend and fellow student, Nanpon Timnan David, a 200-level student of Agricultural Science. THE NIGERIA STANDARD correspondents, JENNIFER YARIMA & KENNETH DARENG, have been following the case to unravel the motive behind a murder that has sent shock waves across the University of Jos and its surrounding communities
The incident occurred on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at Nanpon’s off-campus residence in Rusau, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State. The two, known to be friends who shared a passion for music, had returned from a recording session before the said attack took place.
Nanpon allegedly attacked Mafuyai with a machete without provocation and then buried his body in a shallow grave behind his house. The Plateau State Police Command swiftly responded to a distress call and arrested Nanpon at the scene. The police have commenced an investigation into the matter, and the suspect is currently in custody.
The motive behind the said killing is still unclear, but there are speculations that it might not be unconnected to their ongoing music project. However, other sources familiar with the circumstances leading to the incident claim that there could be very sinister motives behind the alleged murder.
Meanwhile, the University of Jos management has confirmed the incident and expressed deep sadness over the tragic development. The university’s Registrar, Dr Rejoice Songden, clarified that the incident occurred off-campus and assured parents, guardians, students, staff and the general public that adequate security measures are in place to safeguard lives and property within the university vicinity.
An eyewitness’s harrowing account
The incident has sent shock waves, with students and faculty members expressing shock and sadness over the tragic loss of life. Narrating the incident to THE NIGERIA STANDARD, an eyewitness and close ally of the deceased (name withheld), expressed grief, shock and utter surprise over the tragedy.
He disclosed: “Peter and I were at my house when he received a call from Nanpon, his alleged killer, to meet him at Rusau so that they could continue a recording session that they had started together with their producer. Peter told him that he did not have transport fare to meet him, which made Nanpon transfer one thousand naira to him for transportation. Peter pleaded with me to accompany him there, stating that we would not spend too much time there. Being my very good friend, I couldn’t refuse. So, I tagged along.”
He detailed the evening’s events, explaining that on getting to Rusau, Nanpon told them the producer was at ECWA Staff Quarters. So they went there and recorded for a couple of hours until a power outage. Nanpon then insisted they all return to his house at Rusau village. A booked Bolt ride fell through, so the group of five took motorcycles to the “village hostel.”
At the house, they played FIFA video games and the witness proceeded to sleep. He was later woken up to eat spaghetti, after which the others recorded until about midnight. The producer and another friend then went into another room to sleep.
The witness was in a separate room when Peter came in and confided in him. “Peter came into the room where I was and told me that he had just had a conversation with Nanpon to ask him why he had been moody and acting weird all night, but he didn’t seem to get a reasonable response,” he recounted. They continued playing the game for a few minutes before the situation turned terrifying.
“Nanpon came into the room with a cutlass and kept staring at Peter. Curious but laughing, Peter asked him why he was staring at him in that manner but didn’t get a response,” the witness said. “Shortly after, NEPA took light and that was when Nanpon attacked Peter with the cutlass on his face.”
The witness immediately turned on his phone torchlight. “I immediately turned on my phone torchlight, only to see blood on Peter’s face. He [Nanpon] asked me to turn off my light, but I refused.” Thankfully, power was restored and Peter ran out into the other room where the other friends were fast asleep, with Nanpon in pursuit. Peter ran out again into the living room.
The witness described the frantic attempts to intervene: “I was shouting at the other guys to join me so that we could overpower Nanpon, but they were very scared, sleepy and still confused. One of the guys ran out of the compound while the producer came out of the toilet and immediately grabbed Nanpon from behind. I used the opportunity to snatch the cutlass from his hand and threw it over the fence.”
However, Nanpon was undeterred. “He went into his kitchen and got a kitchen knife to still attack Peter, after he had used the cutlass on him twice already. At this point, I was the only one left in the compound. I tried to drag Peter, who was on the floor already, and couldn’t take him out of the compound. But Nanpon approached me with the knife. So I ran out.”
From outside, the witness was helpless. “From outside, I could hear him attacking Peter, but I couldn’t go in again because he had locked the gate already from inside.” He and others searched for the local vigilantes but could not find them as they were handling another case that night. But when they finally met the vigilante members and returned to the house, it was too late. “When we went to the house, where Nanpon had already cleaned up, we didn’t meet him or even the body.”
Thereafter, a search ensued, leading to Nanpon’s capture. “From 1 am to about 5 am, we kept on searching for Nanpon until we finally caught him while trying to run away. He had already cleaned up the mess, carried the body to the back of the house in a soakaway and thrown blocks on the body.” The case was reported to the Laranto Police Division, which was subsequently transferred to the state CID for a thorough investigation.
A mother’s grief, community concerns
Meanwhile, the mother of the deceased, Madam Dorcas Mafuyai, while speaking on the lifestyle of her son, said: “My late son was brought up in a thorough Christian way and at certain times he used to lead the family devotions here at home and since then, he had at no time shown any sign of waywardness. And prior to the incident, I had a dream that something terrible had happened to him, so I decided to discuss the matter with my pastor who even suggested we bring him for prayers. And within that week, we engaged him in a serious prayer session for three days in order to break any impending calamity in the family.”
She added, “In fact, upon his return home, for almost a week he was indoors and we thought that that was God’s answered prayer because at a certain point I had personal reservations about those his friends and tried to warn him to keep away from them. But he had always assured me that there was no cause for alarm.
“Even on that fateful day he was killed, I tried to get in touch with him around 10 pm to make him come back home on time but it was rather too late. We later gathered he had been killed around 12 midnight that same day.”
Sources close to the Rusau community, which is largely populated by students of the University of Jos, stated: “This is one area that deserves a police outpost considering the rampant raids on students’ hostels, which is largely attributed to the activities of criminal elements within the students themselves.”
Calls for security, scrutiny of students’ lifestyles
Chris Nson Jnr, Chairman, Faculty Presidents’ Forum, University of Jos Chapter, condemned the brutal act and lamented the porous security in the community where the incident happened. “I urge students to stay away from hard substances (drugs) and cybercrime. It’s important for every community to have police or a vigilante group because I learned that when the unfortunate incident happened, they sought help but to no avail.”
The Ward Head of Rusau, Mr Sani Sati Taki, expressed deep shock at the tragedy, describing it as ruthless. “When I received a distress call, I was incapacitated as I was in an environment that has no presence of conventional security except for Wector 1 who are stationed at Farin Gada. Since 2001, we have been appealing to authorities for just a police outpost in this community. But it seems all efforts fell on deaf ears; this has left us very vulnerable.”
He also lamented the influx of people, particularly students, into the community without proper background checks, warning house owners to be careful. “The question on the minds of many is what work does he [Nanpon] do to have attracted such comfort as a student? My community is not safe as we are at the mercy of miscreants who have turned the evenings into periods to either rape young ladies or rob residents of valuables like money and phones.”
A youth influencer, who went by the alias, ‘Baba Jang,’ frowned at Nanpon’s recent lifestyle. He alleged: “This boy is into hard drugs, he takes ice, cannabis, cigarettes, alcohol, weed. I guess he acted under influence. I have watched closely and discovered that the alleged murderer spends not less than two hundred thousand naira each day.
“Where does he get that much money from? It was gathered from the grapevine that the boy is a cultist… The boy is so calm and respectful that you wouldn’t believe he would ever do such a thing.”
Oche Prince, a final-year Economics student, lamented that Peter’s death was a colossal loss. He appears to have known a bit about the duo: “I was on my way to Kano when I heard the sad story. The culprit is a hard drug taker and if he so claimed that his action was out of jealousy, then he should know that hard work pays more than jealousy. There’s a secret that he is hiding which Peter possibly knew and the best thing he thought was elimination theory.”
University security’s perspective
The Chief Security Officer of the University of Jos, Agama Solomon Tangni, stressed the need for parents to know where their children would stay once they are given admission because there are flashpoints in satellite communities.
He explained: “A few months ago, some students ganged up against their fellow student and beat him to death for allegedly stealing a phone and here we are facing a similar thing. Anytime we encounter cult-related cases, it usually happens off campus. Persons with questionable characters wouldn’t want to stay in the hostels under the watch of internal security for fear of being checkmated.
“But they stay off campus to carry out their nefarious acts. It’s unfortunate that I am not empowered to apprehend any suspect outside the confines of the university. Only the police are permitted to handle such cases.”
Tangni noted that most cultism cases had their roots in the students’ homes and the secondary schools and that they become full-fledged cultists in tertiary institutions.
“Whenever we arrest suspects and interview them, they always say that they were initiated in junior secondary schools. We have agreed at our level to meet with the ward heads of communities to discuss possible ways of accommodating newcomers. To minimise criminality, a police outpost is very essential in Rusau community because that community has been a problem. The police need to be permanently stationed there, not just on patrol when there is a problem.”
Attempts by THE NIGERIA STANDARD to reach the Police through the office of the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for an update on the case proved abortive as there was no substantive response from that end.
However, as investigations continue, the University of Jos community and the general public await answers and justice for the late Peter and his grieving family.