By Mohammed Bello Doka
15 July, 2026.
The Hausa Zallah Movement has embarked on a dangerous campaign demanding that every Fulani leave what they call "Hausaland." This is not just absurd; it is a fundamental misunderstanding of how Nigeria works. Every inch of land in this country belongs to the Federal Government. The Constitution vests ownership and control of all land in each State in the Governor of that State, held in trust for all Nigerians . No ethnic group has a deed of ownership over any territory. Nigeria is a Republic, a democracy with constitutional guarantees of human rights. We are all tenants on Federal land. When the Hausa Zallah speaks of sending Fulanis out of Hausaland, they are speaking a fantasy that has no basis in law, history, or reality.
But here is where their hypocrisy becomes glaring. The same movement that demands ethnic purity in the North conveniently ignores that Hausas are themselves settlers in the Middlebelt. From Benue to Taraba, Plateau to the Federal Capital Territory, generations of Hausas were born, raised, and buried. Their grandparents and parents built lives in these communities. They have children and grandchildren whose roots run deeper than any certificate of indigeneity can capture. Yet the so-called indigenous populations in these areas insist they are still strangers — "Baki" — denied access to scholarships, barred from civil service employment, and treated as perpetual outsiders .
The Middlebelt is more of a religious and political construct than a purely geographical one. It is understood as a coalition of minority groups in Northern Nigeria, many of whom are predominantly Christian and non-Hausa in origin . This is why parts of Southern Kaduna, some areas of Gombe, and Adamawa are regarded as Middlebelt — they are Christian-dominated pockets in a predominantly Muslim North . But the question remains: when the Hausa Zallah Movement demands that Fulanis leave Hausaland, what do they intend to do with the Hausas in the Middlebelt?
Let us be honest. There are more Hausas outside the traditional Hausaland demarcation of the Hausa Bakwai and Banza Bakwai than the movement cares to admit. And even within the so-called Hausa states, you have people of Nupe, Gwari, Kwararrafa descent who have been included in Hausaland over generations . Ask them if they know why they are called Hausa. I will school them on this history another day. The truth is that the Hausa identity, as we understand it today, is a product of centuries of migration, intermarriage, and political convenience, not some pure bloodline that can be neatly mapped onto a territory .
The Hausa Zallah Movement is not just hypocritical; it is self-destructive. It is a movement designed to destroy the North from within because it does not think through the implications of what it proposes. If you expel Fulanis from Hausaland, do you also expel the Hausas from the Middlebelt? If you insist on ethnic purity, are you prepared to unravel the complex web of identities that has made Northern Nigeria what it is today? The integration of Hausa and Fulani identities is so pervasive that there cannot be a clean cut . Generations of intermarriages have produced people who may claim one tribe officially but cannot socially extricate themselves from the other . Even the most prominent Fulanis cannot always speak Fulfulde, and many Hausas have Fulani blood.
This movement is a distraction. While they bark at shadows, the real problems of Northern Nigeria — poverty, banditry, out-of-school children, crumbling infrastructure — go unaddressed. The political elite who control budgets, security, and policies watch from their mansions, laughing at a movement that attacks powerless traditional rulers and religious leaders while sparing the real architects of suffering. The Hausa Zallah is not fighting for liberation; they are fighting for relevance. They are chasing imaginary tales because they are too scared to face the real monster. And in doing so, they are tearing apart the very fabric of the North they claim to love. It is cowardice dressed in the robes of activism. And it will fail.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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