By Mohammed Bello Doka
I have been insulted, abused, threatened, and even warned of bodily harm and elimination. Some have openly called for my arrest and detention; others have gone as far as wishing me death. Yet I am left with no option but to do what many are too afraid to do: ask the difficult questions. If this burden has been placed on me, I will carry it until freedom or martyrdom—because silence, in moments like this, is complicity.
Most of the abuse followed a single article. That article asked one question—and instead of answers, it provoked rage. This is my response. And when examined closely, it reveals that there are now more questions than answers.
In my last article, I asked a direct question: Is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu waging a quiet war against the Muslim North, or are we merely witnessing a series of coincidences?
The response avoided the question. Instead, there were insults, accusations of paranoia, and loud whataboutism.
So let us return—clearly, sharply, and without ambiguity—to the issues at hand.
This Was the Question Then. This Is the Question Now.
Why do power, protection, and proximity to the centre keep moving away from the same bloc?
Why do media accusations of terrorism financing and corruption repeatedly feature Northern Muslim powerbrokers?
Why are institutions, money, and regulatory authority consolidating in one direction, while exposure, insecurity, and political vulnerability concentrate in another?
If this is coincidence, it is an unusually consistent and stubborn one.
Power First: Who Lost What—and When?
Let us deal with positions of control, not emotions.
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje — Muslim, North — exited as APC National Chairman.
Replaced by Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda — Northern Christian.
The electoral nerve centre transitioned from Mahmood Yakubu — Muslim, North — to Joash Amupitan — Northern Christian.
The Defence Ministry changed hands during a national security emergency.
Mohammed Badaru Abubakar — Muslim, North — exited.
Replaced by a Northern Christian General Christopher Musa.
Senate security oversight was quietly reshuffled.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Security — Muslim, North — removed.
And now, openly and repeatedly, elite voices discuss replacing Kashim Shettima — Muslim, North, symbol of the 2023 Muslim–Muslim pact — with a Northern Christian in 2027.
Question: How many such shifts, all pointing in the same direction, can reasonably be dismissed as random?
Then Exposure: Clear Media Accusations, No Closure
Now to the second phase—public accusations without resolution.
Across Nigerian media platforms, three prominent Northern Muslims have been explicitly accused in the media of funding or being linked to terrorism financing:
Tukur Yusuf Buratai
Faruk Yahaya
Abubakar Malami now under EFCC detention for an offense were yet to know.
Let there be no ambiguity:
These are media accusations of corruption , of embezzlements and of terrorism financing, not convictions.
All three have publicly denied the allegations.
None has been arraigned or convicted by any court.
Their names, however, remain politically radioactive.
If accountability is the goal, where are the final investigative reports?
If justice is the aim, where are the trials—or the formal exonerations?
Yet a glaring contrast remains: no one is accused in the media of funding Indigenous People of Biafra terrorists; no one is accused of funding Sunday Igboho’s Oduduwa Republic movement; and no one is accused of funding Niger Delta militants—militants whose actions allegedly led President Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, install a military sole administrator, and preside over six months of rule without a single arrest.
Beyond Party Lines: Everyone Is Now Expendable
This is not about APC versus opposition. The pattern cuts across party lines.
Ganduje exits.
Badaru exits.
Now Bello Matawalle — Muslim, North — is accused in the media of funding or arming bandits and terrorists.
Even Tinubu's personal attacker Nuhu Ribadu — Muslim, North, the chief enforcer of the state’s security and anti-corruption posture — begins to appear in media accusations and insinuations relating to terrorism links.
Even Kashim Shettima’s name circulates in elite calculations—not yet accused, but clearly no longer untouchable.
> The pattern did not stop with security figures. It extended into the political class itself. Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor, minister, and ex–Bureau of Public Enterprises chief, was subjected to years of intense scrutiny—his records as governor, minister, and even as head of BPE combed repeatedly—yet no conclusive criminal finding emerged, only lingering suspicion. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal likewise became a recurring subject of arrest, detention and media allegations of financial impropriety without definitive judicial closure. Different parties, same region, same religion—investigations that never quite end, accusations that never quite resolve, and political capital steadily eroded.
Question: Is this now a system where usefulness guarantees nothing and protection expires quickly?
Institutions and Money: Where Power Now Lives
While Northern Muslim elites face displacement and exposure, federal power is physically relocating.
FAAN relocated its headquarters to Lagos.
CBN’s most powerful regulatory departments operate from Lagos.
BOI secured approval for a functional headquarters in Eko Atlantic, Lagos.
NPA and NIMASA were already Lagos-centric; under Tinubu, this imbalance has been reinforced, not corrected.
When regulation, finance, and decision-making cluster in one city, who becomes peripheral by design?
Insecurity and Electoral Weakening
At the same time, Northern Nigeria bleeds.
Villages are emptied by banditry.
Farms are abandoned.
Schools are shut.
Millions are displaced.
Elections approach in regions where survival itself is uncertain.
Is insecurity being resolved—or merely managed in a way that weakens a region politically without a single decree?
Selective Anti-Corruption: The Unanswered Contrast
If this government is uncompromising on corruption, Nigerians are entitled to ask:
Where was the same sustained fury when Betta Edu’s scandal broke?
Why did accountability soften after Ifeanyi Okowa crossed political lines?
How does the nation process Tunji Ojo acknowledging on national television that his company received a questionable contract—yet consequences vanished, where is UJu Kennedy?
If the law is blind, why does it appear selective?
This is not about tribalism, regionalism, or religious difference; it is about survival, interests, and fundamental rights, the very foundations of democracy. Anyone is free to insult me as much as they wish, but until clear answers are provided, these difficult questions will not go away—they will continue to resonate, because unanswered questions do not disappear, they deepen.
The Final Question: Who Is Safe?
This is now beyond party lines.
If Buratai, Yahaya, and Malami can be accused in the media of funding terrorism;
If Ganduje and Badaru can be politically discarded;
If Matawalle and Ribadu can move from instruments to targets;
If Shettima can move from indispensable to disposable—
then who is next?
And here is the most uncomfortable question of all:
If Tinubu succeeds and returns in 2027, who in the Muslim North is safe?
Which name will be next to trend?
Which accusation will be amplified without closure?
Which institution will move again?
No war has been declared.
No decree has been issued.
But politics is often quiet.
It is felt—in appointments, in accusations, in institutions that migrate, in scandals that die quickly, and in others that never die at all.
So Nigerians must decide—without insults, without denial:
Is this all coincidence?
Or is Tinubu’s silent war—now clearly beyond party lines—still unfolding?
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Opinion