11 July, 2026.
The numbers tell a story of staggering injustice that should shake the foundations of Northern Nigeria. When floods devastated Borno State, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu released three billion naira as intervention to the state government, the same amount given to every state nationwide as part of the federal government's natural disaster response program. When fire razed the Singer Market in Kano State, the federal government approved five billion naira in intervention funds. But when a bomb blast ripped through Ibadan in Oyo State, President Tinubu approved fifty billion naira and actually released thirty billion naira to the state government via the Central Bank of Nigeria. Let that sink in. Borno and Kano, two northern states ravaged by insecurity and disaster, received a combined eight billion naira in direct state government interventions. Oyo, a southwestern state, received thirty billion naira in actual cash release for a single explosion. The injustice is not just glaring, it is obscene.
Yet the governors of Borno and Kano have not raised a single voice in protest. The senators from the North East and North West have not issued a single statement demanding equitable treatment. The House of Representatives members from these regions have not asked a single question on the floor of the National Assembly. How can this be? How can leaders whose constituents are suffering in silence watch such blatant disparity and say nothing?
The answer is as bitter as it is simple. It is the temptation of rice and noodles.
Now this might sound outrageous to the casual observer. Are we seriously suggesting that governors are being bribed with rice and noodles? That is absurd. Governors are powerful men who command billions in state budgets. They do not need bags of rice or cartons of noodles. But that is precisely the point. The rice and noodles are not for the governors. They are for the people. The governors are not being bribed with rice and noodles, they are the ones using rice and noodles to bribe and silence their followers in their respective states. It is the same logic, just a different format. The governors use food palliatives to pacify the masses while they themselves are pacified by something far more substantial.
And what is that substance? The allegations have been loud and persistent. It is claimed that each defecting governor received a package totalling two hundred and fifty billion naira, released in two tranches. One hundred billion naira as a grant upfront and one hundred and fifty billion naira after the formal defection ceremony. The presidency has denied these claims, calling them baseless. But the denials ring hollow when we see the pattern. Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal himself admitted before his defection that his state had received no federal intervention funds because he was in an opposition party. He said, and I quote, I believe it is because I am not in the same party as they, I am in an opposition party. That is a direct confession that federal funds are weaponized based on political loyalty.
Beyond the cash, there are personal favours. Access to federal power becomes easier. Infrastructure projects flow more freely. Political goodwill is unlocked. And most importantly, the spectre of the Rivers Trap looms large. The fear that severe insecurity could lead to federal military administrators being imposed, effectively sidelining elected governors, is a powerful motivator. Joining the ruling party neutralizes this political threat. For some governors, defection is simply a move to escape the control of powerful godfathers in their former parties. These are not noble reasons. These are the calculations of men who prioritize their own survival over the welfare of their people.
And what of the states that have received nothing at all? Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, and Niger have endured relentless bandit attacks over the last three years, with mass kidnappings, killings, and entire communities forced to flee their homes. Zamfara alone has recorded 230 kidnapping incidents, Katsina 200, and Kaduna 156, making them the epicentres of a kidnapping-for-ransom economy that has spiralled out of control. Yet not a single kobo of public intervention money has ever been announced for these states specifically for compensation or recovery from these attacks. Governor Lawal of Zamfara has openly lamented that he knows where the bandit leaders are hiding but cannot act because security forces take orders only from Abuja. He recalled a grim episode in Shinkafi Local Government Area where bandits struck but soldiers refused to act until orders came from the centre. The governor declared, "Most of the time I shed tears for my people, because I see the problem but I cannot order the security men to act in time". Niger State has similarly pleaded with the military to redeploy troops to bandit-prone communities after they were withdrawn, leaving villages defenceless. In Kebbi, bandits abducted 24 schoolgirls in November 2025, and the federal government's response has been promises of rescue operations rather than financial intervention. These states are bleeding, their people are dying, and their governors are pleading for help. Yet the federal government has not seen fit to announce a single naira in intervention funds for any of them.
Now let us bring this home to the issue of state police. The Presidential Working Group on State Policing was inaugurated at the State House Abuja on Tuesday the seventh of July 2026. Out of the thirteen members, not a single one is from the North West or the North East. Specifically, nine out of the thirteen members are Yorubas, two are Igbos and two are from Plateau State. The following persons are the inaugurated members. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State Dr Olukayode Ajulo, SAN, Yoruba. Director General of the National Institute of Police Studies Professor Olu Ogunsakin, Yoruba. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations Mrs Oyinade Nathan-Marsh, Yoruba. President of the Nigeria Bar Association Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, Igbo. Chairman of the NGF Committee on State Police and Governor of Ogun State Prince Dapo Abiodun, Yoruba. Chief of Staff to the President Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, Yoruba. Special Assistant to the President on Legal Matters Tomi Belgore, Yoruba. Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice Chief Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN, Yoruba. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research Mr Dubem Moghalu, Igbo. Attorney General of Lagos State and Commissioner for Justice Mr Lawal Pedro, SAN, Yoruba. Representative of the Inspector General of Police DIG Isyaku Mohammed, Plateau State. Director General of the NGF Secretariat Dr Adulateef Shittu, Yoruba. Director General of the Nigeria Law Reform Commission Professor Dakas Dakas, Plateau State.
This committee will deliberate on a matter of existential importance to Northern Nigeria. State police will determine who controls security, who deploys forces and who decides when and how to respond to threats. Yet the North West and the North East, the regions most devastated by banditry and insurgency, have absolutely no representation. The committee members can even deliberate in Yoruba language because the number of its speakers is more than a quorum. This is not an oversight. This is a calculated exclusion.
And what has been the response from the North? Silence. Not a single governor has raised an eyebrow. Not a single senator has protested. Not a single House of Representatives member has demanded a review of the composition. Why? The bitter answer is rice and noodles. The governors have been pacified with favours and funds. The legislators have been silenced with access and appointments. The masses have been distracted with palliatives. Everyone has been bought, one way or another. The governors eat at the table of the presidency while the people are thrown crumbs from the same table.
This is the tragedy of Northern Nigeria. As long as our governors prioritize their own selfish interests over the collective welfare of the region, we should not expect any serious representation. As long as our senators remain silent while our geopolitical zones are systematically excluded from critical national decisions, we should not expect a leadership that will defend our interests. As long as our House of Representatives members look the other way while billions are funnelled to favoured states and regions, we should not expect justice.
And as long as the masses cannot resist the temptation of rice and noodles from their governors and other political leaders, they should not expect to have leaders that will resist the same temptation of rice and noodles. The people have become complicit in their own subjugation. They accept the palliatives and forget the policies. They take the bags of rice and ignore the committee compositions. They collect the noodles and overlook the exclusion. The governors know this. The presidency knows this. That is why the system continues to work exactly as designed.
The North must wake up. The rice and noodles are not charity, they are chains. The palliatives are not kindness, they are pacifiers. The governors are not leaders, they are agents of a system that has no interest in the development of the region. Until the people demand accountability, until they refuse to be bought with crumbs, until they rise up and ask the hard questions, nothing will change. The state police committee will make its recommendations without Northern input. The interventions will flow to favoured states. The exclusion will continue. And the governors will remain silent, their mouths full of the rice and noodles of political patronage.
The choice is stark. Resist the temptation and demand real representation, or continue to feast on crumbs while the feast is stolen from under your noses. The North cannot afford to be silent any longer. The rice and noodles are not worth the price of our future.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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