21 June, 2026.
On June 19, 2026, Festus Adedayo, a highly educated Yoruba intellectual, published an article on TheCable, one of Nigeria's most respected mainstream media platforms. The title was clinical. The content was devastating.
Adedayo told Nigerians that Northern Nigeria is angry not because of the bloodshed on its soil, but because it has been rightly called by the name it gave itself. He declared that Northerners are dying mostly at the hands of their own sons. He framed the crisis as the legacy of the 19th-century Sokoto Caliphate. He concluded that the North's suffering is self-inflicted. A Northern problem, not a Nigerian President's problem.
This article is not a rejoinder to Adedayo. I do not write to debate him. I write to expose what his article truly represents: ideological cover for a multi-generational Yoruba project to dismantle Northern power from OBJ to BAT. And I write to call for introspection, not for the average Northerner who is bleeding, hungry, and abandoned, but for the Northern political elite, the educated class, and the business elite who have watched this project unfold and applauded it, while their people are herded into forests like cattle.
Let us speak plainly. The North is not bleeding by accident. It is bleeding by design. And the architects of this design wear Yoruba masks.
When Olusegun Obasanjo took office in 1999, he did so on the back of Northern votes. The North, in its naivety, believed power would be shared. Instead, Obasanjo used that power to destroy the North's economic foundation. Under the guise of IMF and World Bank reforms, Obasanjo's privatisation programme systematically dismantled Northern industry. Eighty-four companies were closed across the North. In Katsina State, ninety percent of companies became moribund. All textile factories in Kaduna closed by the end of 2007. Over 117,000 textile workers lost their jobs. Eighty percent of Nigeria's textile companies closed by 2007.
Obasanjo passed the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005, privatising the generation and distribution companies. Kano DISCO, Kaduna DISCO, and Jos DISCO were sold off. Today, the North receives six to eight hours of electricity daily. Southern urban centres receive twelve to eighteen hours. Under Obasanjo, oil exploration in the North was deprioritised. Meanwhile, Ogun State secured a fifty million dollar loan for seismic oil studies. Northern states were told there was no oil. The South was told to drill. Obasanjo attempted to extend his tenure beyond eight years. The message was clear: the Yoruba project was not about democracy. It was about dominance. He then imposed Umaru Yar'Adua, a terminally ill Northerner, as his successor. When Yar'Adua died, Goodluck Jonathan, a Southerner, took over. The North was out of power again. By design.
When Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election, he did so with sixty-three to sixty-five percent of his votes coming from the North, approximately 5.6 to 5.8 million votes. Kano delivered 517,341 votes. Katsina delivered 482,283. Kaduna delivered 399,293. Borno delivered 252,282. Without the North, there would be no Tinubu presidency. The North was not a minor partner. It was the backbone of the victory. Expectations were not imagined. They were earned.
And what has the North received in return? Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the Northern Muslim chairman of the APC, was pushed out. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, the Northern Muslim Minister of Defence, resigned and was replaced by a Northern Christian from Southern Kaduna. Senate security committees were reassigned. Vice President Kashim Shettima, the last symbol of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, faces growing calls for replacement with a Northern Christian in 2027. The message is unmistakable: the North is being edged out of power, piece by piece.
Under the cover of anti-corruption, a selective purge is underway. Abubakar Malami faces a 16-count charge involving 8.7 billion naira fraud and 57 properties valued at 213.2 billion naira for forfeiture. Nasir El-Rufai faces a 10-count charge involving 579.6 million naira and 1.1 million dollars fraud and has been remanded in custody. Bashir Saidu faces a 10-count charge involving 45 million dollars in state funds sold at undervalued rates. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal faces a judicial commission indictment for 117 billion naira misappropriation. Sadiya Umar Farouq faces a 21-count charge with a bench warrant issued. Meanwhile, Ifeanyi Okowa, a Southerner, is accused of mismanaging over one trillion naira in oil derivation funds with no action. Yoruba cabinet members with credible financial accusations face no action.
Who controls the instruments of this purge? The EFCC Chairman is Ola Olukoyede, a Yoruba man. The Inspector General of Police is IGP Tunji Disu, a Yoruba man. The Chief of Army Staff is Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, a Yoruba man. The Attorney General of the Federation is Lateef Fagbemi, a Yoruba man. The Chief of Staff is Femi Gbajabiamila, a Yoruba man. A fortress of kinsmen. A shield for the South. A sword against the North.
Federal institutions are being relocated to Lagos. FAAN moved its headquarters from Abuja to Lagos. CBN transferred key departments including Banking Supervision, Payments System, Consumer Protection, and Financial Policy to Lagos. BOI approved a new headquarters in Eko Atlantic City, Lagos. NPA and NIMASA, already Lagos-centric, were reinforced under Tinubu. Abuja keeps the signage. Lagos holds the nerve centre. The federal capital is being hollowed out. The South is being consolidated.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is projected to cost 14 to 15 trillion naira. The first phase alone is 1.334 trillion naira. The combined budgets of the ten lowest-spending states in Nigeria, most of them Northern, amount to approximately 4.2 trillion naira. A single road in the South costs more than three times the combined budgets of ten Northern states. The River Niger, the lifeline of Northern agriculture, flood control, and the Kainji and Jebba dams, receives one to three billion naira in maintenance votes. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway receives over thirteen billion dollars. A road in the South gets more funding than the river that powers the national grid.
President Tinubu, who once demanded Jonathan's resignation over insecurity, now blames enemies, saboteurs, and cabals for the violence. Senate President Akpabio claims the opposition is recruiting young people to cause mayhem. If the opposition is behind the insecurity, why are they not in prison? Why are they holding press conferences? Why are they campaigning openly? The answer is obvious: the accusations are not meant to be proven. They are meant to frighten. They are meant to distract. They are meant to justify the unjustifiable.
INEC Chairman Amupitan has already warned that insecurity threatens the 2027 elections. Senator Ningi has proposed suspending elections in eight frontline states, all Northern: Borno, Plateau, Bauchi, Benue, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, and parts of Kano. The pieces are being carefully arranged. The North is being systematically disenfranchised.
While Nigerians bleed, the contractors count their billions. The MARSS defence architecture deal is valued at 190 million dollars. The Leonardo fighter jet deal is valued at 1.2 billion euros. The DICON-Vanquish APC deal is undisclosed. Trillions are budgeted. Billions are spent. Insecurity gets worse. The beneficiaries are invisible.
This brings us to the most painful question: where are the Northern elites? Where are the Northern governors? Where are the Northern ministers? Where are the Northern lawmakers? Where are the Northern business leaders? Where are the Northern scholars? These are men with private jets, foreign properties, and enormous personal fortunes, yet they appear incapable of challenging policies that leave their people exposed, displaced, and electorally endangered. Why? Because confronting power threatens proximity. Because silence preserves access. Because feeding bottles matter more than bleeding communities.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna declared that Tinubu has done more for the North than any leader in history and said there is no opposition in Kaduna against Tinubu in 2027. Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi said Tinubu is his leader and mentor and that they support him one hundred percent. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno said the people of Borno will vote for Tinubu for a second term. Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe, Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, said the North would back Tinubu in 2027 because it contributed over sixty percent of his winning votes. Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa said a party controlling thirty-one states cannot be scared of a party that controls none. Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina said critics are noisemakers. In Kano, APC stakeholders adopted Tinubu as the sole presidential candidate. In Zamfara, they read a communiqué supporting Tinubu's re-election. In Adamawa, Governor Fintiri promised eighty-five percent of votes to Tinubu. In Kwara, the Ilorin Emirate Political Advisory Council endorsed Tinubu. In Kogi, Governor Ododo called Tinubu's re-election a personal project. In Niger, an advocacy group endorsed Tinubu.
This is what they talk about while the North burns. They talk about roads and light rails and the percentage of votes they will deliver. They do not talk about the twenty million children out of school in the North, according to UNESCO. They do not talk about the fact that the North has the highest maternal mortality rate in Nigeria, with over one thousand deaths per one hundred thousand live births, according to UNICEF. They do not talk about the fact that over forty percent of the population of the North lives below the poverty line, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. They talk about votes. They talk about power. They talk about 2027.
The professors, the researchers, the doctors of philosophy who have spent decades studying society, governance, and security know exactly what is wrong. They have written the papers. They have attended the conferences. They have submitted the memoranda. And then they have taken their positions as senior special advisers, as technical assistants, as consultants to the very government that ignores their research. They have become the lawyers who defend the indefensible. They have become the voices that rationalize the irrational. They have become the intellectual cover for a system that has failed the people. A scholar who knows that banditry is fueled by economic deprivation but refuses to say so because his funding comes from the state is not a scholar. He is a courtier. He is a praise singer in an academic gown.
The Northern business elite have watched their people starve while they feast. They have watched their communities collapse while they build mansions in Abuja and Lagos. They have watched the government spend trillions on Southern infrastructure while their businesses drown in insecurity. And they say nothing. Because saying something would threaten their contracts. Because speaking up would jeopardise their access. Because the North is not a homeland to them. It is a market. It is a source of cheap labour. It is an inconvenience to be managed.
The musicians of Arewa have become beggars and praise singers. They sing about the virtues of governors who have never built a single hospital. They compose songs for politicians who have stolen their children's future. They have traded the art of protest for the art of survival. When the only way to eat is to sing the praises of the man who has taken everything from you, you sing. But let us not pretend that this is art. It is a eulogy for a dying culture.
The youth of the North have become social media influencers. They dance on TikTok. They post on Instagram. They tweet and retweet. And they do this while the government budgets billions of naira for media campaigns and hands them crumbs. The Ministry of Information budgeted over ten billion naira for publicity in 2025. Meanwhile, the same government cut funding for the National Directorate of Employment. The youth have been given smartphones and data plans and told to be content. They have been made into a digital cheering squad for a regime that does not care if they live or die.
This brings us back to Festus Adedayo. He tells the North that its suffering is its own fault. He tells the North that its children are being killed by its own sons. He tells the North that its anger is illegitimate because it is being called by the name it gave itself. He tells the North that the legacy of the Sokoto Caliphate is the root of its misery. What Adedayo does not tell you is that Obasanjo, a Yoruba man brought to power by Northern votes, destroyed Northern industry through privatisation. He does not tell you that Tinubu, a Yoruba man brought to power by Northern votes, is displacing Northern leaders, purging Northern elites, relocating federal institutions to Lagos, starving Northern budgets, and weaponising insecurity to suppress Northern votes. He does not tell you that every instrument of state power is in Yoruba hands, serving as shield for the South and sword against the North. He does not tell you that a single coastal road in the South costs more than three times the combined budgets of ten Northern states. He does not tell you that the river that powers the national grid receives crumbs while a coastal highway receives thirteen billion dollars. He does not tell you that the North receives six to eight hours of electricity daily while the South receives twelve to eighteen hours. He does not tell you that INEC is warning that elections may be impossible in eight Northern states. Adedayo tells you the North is destroying itself. He does not tell you who is holding the knife.
The North delivered the presidency to Obasanjo. He destroyed its economy. The North delivered the presidency to Tinubu. He is destroying its political power, institutions, and security. The pattern is unmistakable. The North delivers the presidency to a Yoruba candidate. The Yoruba candidate uses that power to dismantle Northern power. Northern elites remain silent, choosing access over legacy. Northern masses suffer and are told it is their own fault. The next Yoruba candidate emerges. The North is asked to deliver again. Repeat. Adedayo's role in this cycle is providing ideological cover by telling the North its suffering is self-inflicted.
This is not a call to violence. This is not a call to hatred. This is a call to consciousness. To the Northern political elite: you have traded your people's future for access to power. You have watched your children be abducted, your farmers be killed, your communities be destroyed, and you have said nothing. To the Northern educated class: you know the truth. You have the data. You have the research. You have the platform. And you have chosen silence over courage. To the Northern business elite: you have profited while your communities collapsed. You have built empires while your homeland burned. To the Northern musicians: you have traded the art of protest for the art of survival. To the Northern youth: you have been given smartphones and data plans and told to be content. Your dance moves will not stop the bullets. Your tweets will not bring back the abducted children.
The North will not be destroyed by outsiders. It will be destroyed, if it is destroyed at all, by Northern elites who chose access over legacy, silence over strategy, greed over preparation. History does not forgive regions that refuse to confront themselves. The handwriting is not just on the wall. It is written in budgets, power lines, highways, agency headquarters, and voting records. It is written in the blood of 4,518 Nigerians killed in 2025 alone. It is written in the four hundred civilians captive in Borno. It is written in the twenty million children out of school. It is written in the six to eight hours of electricity the North receives daily. It is written in the fourteen to fifteen trillion naira coastal road while Northern states survive on 4.2 trillion naira combined budgets. It is written in the silence of the Northern elite.
Something must kill a man. In Nigeria today, you either die of hunger, be killed by bandits, be eliminated by sponsored political rivals, or fall to a trigger-happy police officer. There is no safe passage. There is no neutral ground. You speak, you die. You keep quiet, you die. I have made my choice. I choose to speak. I know what that might cost me. I know that in Nigeria, speaking the truth is a dangerous profession. But I would rather speak and die than die in silence. I would rather my name be mentioned in the same breath as the Emir of Gobir, Dadiyata, Mallam Jafar Adam, and Mallam Albani Zaria than live long enough to become a praise singer for the people who destroyed my homeland.
The North is bleeding. The political elite are feasting. The educated class is providing justification. The business elite is counting profits. The musicians are singing for scraps. The youth are dancing on social media. 2027 will come. The votes will be cast. The winners will be declared. And then the insecurity will continue. The kidnappings will continue. The deaths will continue. Because the problem is not the president. The problem is not the governor. The problem is not the opposition. The problem is a system that has taught us that our lives are worth less than a politician's ambition.
Festus Adedayo tells the North that its suffering is self-inflicted. He tells the North that it is being called by the name it gave itself. He tells the North that its anger is illegitimate because its own sons are holding the knives. What Adedayo does not tell you is that the knives are being forged in Lagos, financed by trillions in Southern infrastructure, wielded by Yoruba-controlled institutions, and sharpened by Northern elites who have traded their people's future for access to power. The North is not a conquered territory. It is a sleeping giant that records every slight. The records are being kept. The tables will turn.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
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