₦airaland Forum

The North Isn’t Being Waged On. It’s Being Pulled Into A Tougher Fight It Should Have Fought Decades Ago

I read the article by Mohammed Bello Doka from kaduna state. To be honest It’s heavy. It hurts to read because the pain is real. Mothers burying kids in Kajuru. Kids in Sokoto too weak to stand. Fathers in Zamfara paying ransom with their last cow. If you’re from the North, you feel that in your chest.

But the story it tells is incomplete. And an incomplete story to start with, and incomplete story becomes a weapon.

Right now, it’s a weapon telling millions of northern Muslims that the only reason they suffer is because Tinubu and his administration hates them. That’s not the truth. And it won’t fix anything.

As a political commentator watching from a side line, lets scrutinise the points Doka raised one after the other.

*1. Insecurity didn’t start in 2023. But the rules of engagement changed*

Bandits were taxing villages in Zamfara in 2021. Schools were shut in Kaduna in 2022. The difference now is you hear about it faster, and the military is being told “no more deals, no more ceasefire that buys time for regrouping.” for the terrorists.

Recall, between Jan-April 2026, yes, 1,100 people were abducted. Terrible. But compare that to Jan-April 2024: 1,680 abductions per SBM Intelligence data. You will notice that the trend moving down, not up. The Woro attack in Kwara happened. So did the rescue of 89 victims in Birnin Gwari 3 weeks later. The media space amplified the attack, not the rescue. That’s not Tinubu hiding it. That’s how bad news travels 10x faster than good news.

The real shift: Security forces are now taking the fight into forests instead of waiting in barracks. That’s why you see more contact, more casualties on both sides. It’s messy. But “silent war” implies nothing is being done. The 8th Division’s Operation Fansan Yamma has cleared 14 camps in Sokoto-Zamfara axis since March 2026 alone as being dislodged of terroeist. Ask people in Shinkafi if they feel nothing changed.

*2. Poverty in the North is structural, not a Tinubu invention*

The UN report that 71.9% poverty in the North-East didn’t appear in 2024. NBS data shows it’s been above 65% since 2018. Sokoto placed at 90.5%? That’s from the 2025 Multidimensional Poverty Index using data collected under Buhari’s last year to begin with.

What’s different now is the pain of correction hit first. Subsidy removal, Forex unification, and the fight against agricultural smuggling hurt before the investments begin to yeild result. But look at what’s running parallel:

- *On Agriculture*: The $2.5bn Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones project broke ground in Kano and Kaduna in Q1 2026. Is targeting 1.2m jobs. Not enough, but it’s not “silence.”
- *On Livestock*: The new Ministry of Livestock Development, headed by a northerner, is rolling out ranching pilots in Nasarawa and Niger to end the farmer-herder conflict that drives displacement.
- Mwanwhile on *Education*: The Almajiri Education Commission got its highest budget ever in 2026. 400,000 kids enrolled in 12 northern states since Jan 2026 for the first ever.

Is it fast enough? No. Is it “systematically dismantling the North”? No. The data says the North was already at the bottom. The fight now is to stop it falling further while building something new.
Dissecting on ; Appointments
*3. Appointments: Follow the money and the mandate, not just the name*

Yes, Ganduje, Yakubu, Badaru are out. Yes, some replacements are northern Christians. But the narrative that “Muslim North has no power” ignores where the money and policy levers actually sit:

- *Budget & Planning*: Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi. He signs off every capital project.
- *Agriculture*: Abubakar Kyari, Borno. Rice, wheat, and dry-season farming policy.
- *Health*: Muhammad Ali Pate, Bauchi. He’s running the $2.2bn healthcare financing program.
- *Transportation, Housing, Women Affairs, Livestock* - all held by northerners.

The Presidency argues that national security and finance were given to technocrats trusted across regions to avoid the “ethnic capture” that broke trust under Buhari. Whether you agree is fair. But calling it a purge against Muslims ignores that VP Shettima sits on every major economic council, and Nuhu Ribadu, despite claims he’s sidelined, chairs the NSA office that approves every security operation.

On El-Rufai, Malami, Mamman: they’re facing EFCC cases started under Buhari, not new cases created in 2025. Selective prosecution is a real concern. But the files were opened before Tinubu took over office. If you want to call it selective, ask why the files moved now. The answer is messy, but it’s not “because they’re northern Muslims.”

*4. The North’s elite problem is older than Tinubu*

The article is right about one thing: too many northern governors and ministers live in Abuja while their states burn. But that started in 1999. The difference is social media now shows the private jets and mass graves in the same feed.

Tinubu didn’t make northern elites silent. He inherited a system where speaking up gets you labeled “anti-party.” If the North wants a different deal, the pressure has to be on those governors and senators who control state budgets and security votes. Blaming only Abuja lets the governors off the hook.

*5. What’s actually being asked for?*

If the demand is “treat the North fairly,” I’m with you. But if the demand is “give us power back without fixing why we lost it,” that’s not a plan. That’s nostalgia.

This narrative isn’t proving that “Tinubu is perfect.” He’s not. Subsidy removal without a functioning transport system was brutal. The pace of agricultural investment is too slow. Communication from the Presidency on northern issues is defensive, rather than proactive.

The counter-narrative is: *The North is in a fight for survival, and the fight started long before Tinubu. He’s choosing to fight it openly instead of managing it quietly. That hurts now, but hiding it hurt more.*

*So what do we do with this?*

1. *Demand specifics, not vibes*: “Why is Sokoto’s budget for primary healthcare still 3%?” That question moves governors more than “Tinubu hates us.”
2. *Separate anger at policy from anger at identity*: You can hate subsidy removal and still admit it wasn’t targeted at Muslims.
3. *Use the people who are in power*: Bagudu, Kyari, Pate are in the room. If they’re silent, make them speak. If they’re delivering, make them show it.
4. *Stop letting fear set the agenda*: Every time

The North doesn’t need a savior in Aso Rock. It needs leaders in Kaduna, Sokoto, and Maiduguri who are as afraid of their people as they are of Abuja.

Tinubu’s job is to run Nigeria. The North’s job is to make sure he can’t ignore it. That only happens if we stop fighting over who hates who, and start fighting over budgets, schools, and security outcomes. And what leverage the north can take advantage of.

Abdulaziz Munir
Writing from Jigawa.

The latest international media appearance by Plateau-based activist, Masara Kim Usman, has once again exposed how misinformation, emotional propaganda and outright fabrication are being weaponised to inflame Plateau’s communal crisis and falsely portray it as an “Islamic jihadist war” against Christians.
In his now-circulating interview, Masara claimed that armed Fulani jihadists attacked a burial ground during funeral rites in Barkin Ladi while mourners were burying victims of earlier attacks.

According to him, gunmen opened fire from surrounding hills, forcing locals to abandon proper burial rites and hurriedly dump corpses into shallow graves before fleeing for their lives.
He further claimed he personally witnessed someone being shot during the attack and that armed terrorists carrying sophisticated weapons and sniper rifles attempted to massacre mourners.
But there is one major problem with the entire dramatic story: absolutely nobody was killed or injured during the so-called burial attack.
Not one casualty, no one corpse, not one hospital record, not one medical or security report from multiple security agencies and not one single verified victim, except him.

The obvious question therefore remains if hundreds of armed “Fulani jihadists” attacked a crowded burial ceremony with sophisticated rifles and sniper weapons as claimed by Mr Masara, how did nobody die? How did nobody sustain injury? How does a “mass attack” end without a single casualty?

The answer is simple, because the narrative was fabricated and staged to create panic, attract sympathy and push a false genocide narrative to international audiences. Even Masara’s own videos exposed the inconsistencies.

The same man claiming he was running for his life under heavy gunfire somehow managed to hold his camera perfectly steady, maintain smooth commentary with british accent, control his breathing, avoid visible distress, remain spotless without sweat or dust, and narrate events calmly like a movie correspondent.
At different times, he claimed he ran two kilometres. Later, the distance mysteriously became five kilometres. Yet throughout the footage, there was no sign of exhaustion, panic or trauma expected from someone supposedly escaping sniper fire and a coordinated terrorist assault.

Even more damaging to the propaganda effort was what appeared in the background of the footage itself. While Masara shouted dramatically about “Fulani attackers,” some women visible in the same environment were calmly walking without panic, without taking cover and without any indication that an active attack was taking place nearby. In the same background some youths were asked to run while the documentary was being shot.

In fact, the only armed individuals clearly visible in portions of the footage were local Berom militia carrying weapons and firing toward nearby hills.

Security and community sources confirmed that before the burial commenced, armed Berom youths had already gathered around the area, allegedly mobilising for a reprisal attack on a nearby Fulani settlement following earlier killings of seven persons.

Troops of Operation Enduring Peace deployed to the area reportedly intervened to stop the retaliatory mobilisation. According to findings, while tensions were high during the burial, sporadic gunshots were fired by the same local armed youths toward nearby hills, triggering confusion and panic which Masara and others immediately transformed into a staged “Fulani terrorist attack on mourners.”

Masara also falsely claimed that while the burial was ongoing, “someone was shot” some distance away from him. Again, this claim collapsed immediately because there was no recorded casualty, no injured victim, no evacuation and no corpse connected to the supposed shooting.

Not even community leaders could identify the alleged victim he claimed to have seen fall after gunshots. In his interview Masara claimed that local vigilante at the Burial responded with dane gunz but the Fulani had superior weapons than them. This further confirmed that the shooting was actually from within

The story simply never happened.
Masara also attempted to frame Plateau’s crisis as part of a broader “Islamic jihad against Christianity” allegedly aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate and destroying Western civilisation.
According to him, Fulani attackers were fighting Christianity because “the West brought Christianity” and therefore wanted to eliminate Christians and Western influence.
This claim is not only false but dangerously irresponsible.
The reality is that Plateau State is NOT under invasion by Boko Haram, ISWAP or any international jihadist organisation.
No terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for attacks in Plateau.
No ISIS flags have appeared in Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Mangu or Bassa.
No evidence exists showing any coordinated jihadist structure operating in the state.
What Plateau is experiencing is a long-running communal conflict driven by reprisals, cattle rustling, farm destruction, land disputes, livestock poisoning and cycles of revenge killings between armed groups from different ethnic communities.

The killings are real.But they are happening on BOTH sides. Fulani communities have suffered attacks. Berom communities have suffered attacks. Livestock have been rustled and poisoned. Farms have been destroyed.
Villages on both sides have buried victims.

Even as this report is being compiled today 9th May 2026, fresh incidents involving attacks on livestock were again recorded in Bassa, where criminal youths reportedly shot and killed four cows, while in the night of 8th May 2026, attack was reported in Riyom where some people were killed in a cycle of reprisals that repeatedly triggers counter-attacks.

Masara conveniently ignored these incidents because acknowledging them would destroy the false “one-sided jihad” or Christian Genocide narrative being sold internationally.

He also falsely alleged that a Muslim soldier attached to Operation Enduring Peace aided attackers and was later arrested after refusing to engage the assailants.

This allegation was another blatant fabrication.
Checks revealed that the soldier in question, a naval rating, was away on an administrative assignment approved by his unit commander — who incidentally is also a Christian officer.
He was neither armed nor deployed at the attacked location during the incident.
But because the soldier was Muslim, propagandists immediately framed his absence as “evidence” that he collaborated with Fulani attackers.
This reckless weaponisation of religion is exactly what continues to poison Plateau’s fragile environment. Every incident is instantly branded “Islamic terrorism.” Every criminal becomes “Fulani jihadist.” Every reprisal attack becomes “Christian persecution.”

Meanwhile, the actual realities of criminality, communal reprisals and illegal arms proliferation are ignored. The same activists defending armed youths and illegal militias are often the loudest voices accusing security agencies of bias whenever arrests are made.
Only recently, troops uncovered illegal arms fabrication factories in Plateau and arrested suspects manufacturing AK-47 rifles and ammunition components. Instead of condemning the criminal arms operation, some individuals openly defended the suspects and justified illegal weapon production as “community self-defence.”

This dangerous normalisation of militancy or terrorism is precisely why Plateau remains trapped in endless violence. No society survives when civilians begin manufacturing assault rifles while activists celebrate them online. It is also important to note that several attacks highlighted by Masara conveniently omitted the reprisal context surrounding many incidents.

Zagazola repeatedly maintain that many retaliatory attacks follow earlier incidents involving cattle rustling, poisoning of livestock, attacks on herders or destruction of farms.

According to security source familiar with operations in Plateau: These attacks always have history behind them. Something usually happens before reprisals occur. We have repeatedly warned communities against poisoning cows, attacking herders and carrying out retaliatory raids. But propaganda often overshadows the real causes.”

The source added that illegal arms in the hands of youths across affected communities remain one of the biggest threats to peace. The truth remains that Plateau’s crisis cannot be solved through emotional manipulation, fake genocide narratives, staged videos or international propaganda tours.

The violence in Plateau is tragic and real.
But turning a complex communal conflict into fictional “Islamic conquest” propaganda only deepens mistrust, fuels retaliation and prolongs the bloodshed.

Peace will only come through accountability, disarmament, justice and honest engagement on ALL sides not through staged narratives designed to deceive the world and inflame tensions further.

By: Zagazola Makama

99 Days for the thief, 1 day for the owner of the house. Kudos to the DSS for a job well done.

Even if it's true, FG can never account for the money.