By Mohammed Bello Doka
24 May, 2026.
In the First Republic, when the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, walked the corridors of power, he did so with a singular conviction: the North must never be a vassal to any region or interest. When he was offered the premiership of the entire nation, he declined, choosing instead to remain in Kaduna to develop the Northern protectorate. He famously declared his disinterest in a crown of thorns, prioritizing the welfare of his people over the allure of federal power. Alongside him stood the likes of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a man of rare integrity who carried the North’s conscience into the national parliament, and the fiery Malam Aminu Kano, who fought tirelessly for the common man against the establishment. These were leaders who bled for the North. They built the groundnut pyramids, the textile mills, and the research institutes. They understood that leadership was a sacred trust. But today, as we look toward 2027, we must ask: where have such leaders gone?
Today, the North is under siege, not just by bandits and economic saboteurs, but by its own sons. The political landscape of Kano serves as the perfect microcosm of this betrayal. As we approach 2027, Kano is sharply divided between those working directly for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and those working indirectly for him. In a stunning political realignment that has reshaped the region, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has officially decamped from the New Nigeria Peoples Party to the All Progressives Congress, bringing with him a majority of his cabinet members, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, and all 44 local government chairmen in the state. His defection, finalized after a decisive high-level meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, was celebrated with a grand reception rally attended by the President himself and top federal government functionaries at the Sani Abacha International Stadium.
The veteran politician Malam Ibrahim Shekarau has also reportedly thrown his lot behind the Tinubu project, while the embattled former Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje remains a loyal foot soldier for the President. The direct line from Kano to Aso Rock has never been clearer. But most deceptive, and most dangerous, is the role of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya movement. While they posture as opposition, their actions reveal a more calculated script. Kwankwaso has now positioned himself as a key ally of Peter Obi, openly declaring his readiness to become Obi’s running mate in 2027 under the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress. He claims the North has deliberately settled on Obi as the most capable partner to prosecute the 2027 campaign, arguing that this North-Southeast alliance mirrors the partnerships of Tafawa Balewa and Nnamdi Azikiwe in the First Republic and Shagari and Ekwueme in the Second. But make no mistake: by fragmenting the Northern vote and refusing to coalesce into a formidable, united front against Tinubu, Kwankwaso is working indirectly to divide the North, softening the terrain for the President to waltz into victory in 2027. He is the wolf in sheep’s clothing, selling us for the illusion of relevance while the region burns.
And what a sorry state the North is in. Let us look at the ledger of the Tinubu administration and its impact on the Northern populace. On the economy, the North has been bled dry. The removal of the fuel subsidy, while necessary in theory, has been executed without the safety nets required by the region with the highest poverty index. Food prices have surged, transport costs have risen, and small businesses are under immense strain. Between March 2024 and August 2025, over N2.45 trillion was distributed to states from increased Federation Account revenues following subsidy removal and exchange rate reforms. Yet where is this money in the North? The primary responsibility for translating these allocations into visible outcomes lies with state governments. While some states are making efforts—Kano has initiated programs in education, healthcare, and agriculture—the pattern remains uneven, and the lived experience of ordinary citizens remains one of deepening hardship.
On agriculture, the region that once fed the nation is now a shadow of itself. Insecurity continues to disrupt farming communities across the North, limiting access to farmland and driving up food prices. Farmers in Zamfara, Katsina, and Sokoto are abandoning their ancestral lands. The United Nations has warned of catastrophic hunger levels across the Northeast and Northwest. The Sardauna once said, The farmer is the foundation of our economy. Today, that foundation has been dynamited by neglect and bullets. The Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano gas pipeline stands as a transformative project with the potential to revive manufacturing, particularly Kano’s dying textile sector, but its completion remains frustratingly slow.
On infrastructure, the neglect is criminal. While the Southwest enjoys a renaissance of concrete, the North is left to rot. President Tinubu has lavished unprecedented funds on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. The Federal Executive Council approved N1.65 trillion for sections 4A and 4B of this single road covering just 80.35 kilometers between Ogun and Ondo States. This is not a typo: over N1.6 trillion for less than one hundred kilometers of road built on swampy terrain. In total, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project has now accumulated approvals running into multiple trillions of naira.
To put this in perspective, the entire approval for sections of the Sokoto-Badagry highway—a road that actually connects the North to the coast—stands at N2 trillion. But look closely: this is for a road that is meant to span over one thousand kilometers across multiple Northern states. Yet it receives barely more funding than a single eighty-kilometer stretch in the Southwest. While the Minister of Works lists ongoing Northern projects such as the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, the Kano-Maiduguri Road, and the Kano-Katsina Road, their pace of execution and funding prioritization pale in comparison to the Coastal Highway. The entire infrastructure allocation to the North is a fraction of what is being lavished on Lagos and its environs.
We must heed the words of our forefathers. Late Dan Masanin Kano, Maitama Sule, warned us that the problem with Nigeria is simply the problem of leadership. He lamented that today, all the norms and values left by our founding fathers are no longer with us, that honesty has become meaningless. He would weep to see the compromise of today's Northern elites. The late Malam Aminu Kano, that great fiery radical, taught us to never trust the establishment. He said the masses are the true architects of change. He would today be weeping to see Kwankwaso acting as an indirect agent of a regime that ignores the masses while pretending to oppose it. The Sardauna, Ahmadu Bello, his immortal words echo: he had no other ambition than to see that the North is properly developed. He did not build roads in Lagos; he built the Northern Nigerian Marketing Board. And Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa reminded us that the loyalty of the North to the Nigerian nation is unquestionable, but that loyalty must never be taken for granted.
Therefore, we issue a strong and sound warning to every right-thinking Northerner. We must reject Bola Tinubu in 2027. But more importantly, we must reject his direct and indirect marketers in the North. We must reject the divisive politics of Kwankwaso, who weakens our bloc under the guise of a Southern alliance while serving the interests of an incumbent he claims to oppose. We must reject the self-serving machinations of Shekarau, Ganduje, and the now openly Tinubu-loyal Abba Kabir Yusuf, who prioritize federal appointments and protection from prosecution over the blood of our children and the empty stomachs of our people.
This is a clarion call. Rise up. Do not let them use the North as a doormat for a second term. We must rid ourselves of selfish leaders who prioritize their pockets over our people. The North must be wary. The North must be angry. And the North must vote as one bloc to reclaim its dignity and its future. The Sardauna, Malam Aminu Kano, Tafawa Balewa, Maitama Sule, and even the late General Murtala Muhammed are watching from their graves. Let us not dishonor their memory. Let us save the North from its own sons before it is too late.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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