22 April, 2026.
The presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is rapidly descending into a theater of selective justice where the scales are weighted by ethnic affinity rather than the cold letters of the law. For those watching from the North, the message emanating from the Aso Rock Villa is as loud as it is insulting: if you are a kinsman of the President, your sins—even those bordering on treason and the destabilization of the sovereign state—can be washed away by the mere whisper of a traditional ruler.
But if you are a leader from the North, specifically one who refuses to bow at the altar of the new Lagos-centric hegemony, the full weight of a weaponized judiciary will be used to crush you, regardless of the appeals for due process from the highest spiritual and traditional authorities in the land.
The contrast between the treatment of Sunday Igboho and Nasir El-Rufai is not just a study in administrative inconsistency; it is a glaring exposure of a President who appears to prioritize his Yoruba kinsmen over the collective stability and respect of the North. Let us look at the facts, stripped of the diplomatic sugar-coating often used to mask executive tyranny.
Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, was a man whose actions pushed Nigeria to the precipice of a civil war. He did not just issue threats; he led a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing against Fulani herders in the South-West, defying the constitution and the security agencies. He was declared wanted for treasonable acts, including the stockpiling of arms to overthrow the peace of the nation. He fled the country as a fugitive, escaping through the back door of the Benin Republic.
Yet, under the Tinubu administration, this same individual has been magically transformed from a wanted criminal into a free citizen. How did this happen? It did not happen through a rigorous court process or a transparent legal exoneration. It happened because South-West traditional rulers, including the Ooni of Ife and the Olubadan of Ibadan, went to the President and asked for a favor.
Tinubu, acting more like an ethnic champion than a national President, single-handedly ordered the removal of Igboho’s name from the wanted list. There were no 34-day detentions for Igboho. There were no endless adjournments or tactical delays. There was only the swift, decisive, and extra-judicial intervention of a President looking after his own. In the world of Tinubu, the plea of a Yoruba monarch is apparently superior to the security files of the Department of State Services.
Now, let us pivot to the North, a region that gave Tinubu the very platform he stands on today. The case of Nasir El-Rufai, the former Governor of Kaduna State, reveals a different, more sinister side of this administration. El-Rufai is accused of corruption and financial impropriety—allegations that, while serious, fall within the realm of administrative and civil governance. Unlike Igboho, El-Rufai did not call for the breakup of Nigeria. He did not lead a militia. Yet, look at the treatment meted out to him.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the spiritual head of Nigerian Muslims and a symbol of Northern stability, has publicly called for due process. He did not ask for a favor; he asked for justice. The Chief Imam of the National Mosque, Abuja, Sheikh Ibrahim Maqari, and the Northern Elders Forum have echoed this sentiment, demanding that the government either charge El-Rufai to court or release him. Their plea was simple: follow the law.
Did Tinubu listen? No. Instead of the swift resolution granted to Igboho, El-Rufai was subjected to a grueling 34-day detention before he was even presented to a court for arraignment. For over a month, a former governor was held in a legal limbo, a clear violation of his fundamental rights, while the presidency turned a deaf ear to the Sultan and the elders of the North. This is a direct slap in the face of the Northern traditional and religious institution. If the President can ignore the Sultan of Sokoto while bowing to the Ooni of Ife, he is sending a clear signal that the North is no longer a partner in this federation, but a conquered territory to be ignored at will.
The judicial circus that has followed El-Rufai’s eventual arraignment further exposes the script. After weeks of delay, a Federal High Court finally granted him bail on April 14, 2026. But the government’s thirst for persecution did not end there. In a parallel proceeding at the Kaduna State High Court, the bail application has been buried under a mountain of tactical adjournments. El-Rufai first applied for bail in the State Court following his arraignment on April 13, 2026. Instead of a swift ruling, the court adjourned to April 14, only to then announce that the ruling was not ready. It was subsequently pushed to April 21, 2026.
Shockingly, on April 21, the court again refused to deliver a verdict, instead adjourning the ruling on the bail application to the first week of June 2026. This latest adjournment is not about the law; it is about keeping a Northern leader in custody for as long as possible to satisfy a political vendetta. This means El-Rufai is to remain in ICPC custody for nearly two more months just to hear if he is entitled to bail—a right that should be fundamental.
Where was this procedural rigor when Igboho was being cleared? Why does the law suddenly become a slow-moving mountain when a Northerner is involved, but a high-speed elevator when a Yoruba agitator needs a pardon? This is the definition of a double standard. It is a betrayal of the oath of office which requires the President to do right to all manner of people without fear or favor.
The political implications of this bias are profound. As we look toward 2027, the North must wake up.
This is the same Bola Tinubu that some are already preparing to market to the Northern electorate for a second term. We must ask ourselves: if he is this contemptuous of our elders and our leaders now, when he still allegedly needs our votes, how will he treat us after 2027 when he no longer has any use for the North?
If the Sultan of Sokoto cannot get the President to respect the rule of law in a case involving a Northern son, then no one in the North is safe. This administration has shown that it views the North as a mere voting bloc to be exploited and then discarded. The prioritization of Yoruba interest over Northern stability is no longer a hushed conspiracy; it is a visible administrative policy.
Anyone in the North currently campaigning for Tinubu or defending these actions does not have the interest of the region at heart. They are political merchants trading the dignity of their people for personal crumbs from the President’s table. They are watching while the institutions of the North are systematically devalued. When Igboho, who threatened the lives of Northerners in the West, is treated with kid gloves and El-Rufai is treated like a common criminal despite the intervention of the Sultan, the hierarchy of importance in Tinubu’s Nigeria is settled.
The North must realize that in the current political dispensation, we are being governed by a presidency that operates on a kinsmen first basis. The release of Igboho was a political gift to the South-West, wrapped in the cloak of reconciliation. The detention and judicial persecution of El-Rufai is a message of intimidation to the North.
Justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done. Right now, what we see is a President who listens to the West and ignores the North. We see a President who bypasses the law for his people but weaponizes it against others. We see a double standard that is eating away at the very fabric of our national unity. If this is the Renewed Hope promised to Nigerians, then for the North, it is a hope that has been strangled by the hands of regional tribalism and executive arrogance.
The North will remember. Come 2027, the disregard shown to our elders and the selective application of justice will be the currency of exchange. You cannot ignore the Sultan and expect the subjects to cheer for you. You cannot persecute our leaders and expect our votes. The era of Northern political subservience to a biased center is coming to an end.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via email at [email protected]
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