AmanaOnline

I read Lasisi Olagunju’s article, “Northern Nigeria Will Soon Kill Nigeria,” with great interest and deep concern.

Like many Nigerians, I share his frustration with the state of insecurity in our country. The kidnapping of schoolchildren, the murder of innocent citizens, the death of Major General Rabe Abubakar in captivity, and the daily fear that millions of Nigerians live with are tragedies that demand urgent action and honest conversations.

However, while Mr. Olagunju raises legitimate concerns about insecurity and underdevelopment in parts of Northern Nigeria, I believe he makes a serious mistake when he presents the North itself as the problem.

The North is not a terrorist organization.

The North is not a bandit camp.

The North is not an enemy territory.

The North is home to over a hundred million Nigerians—Muslims and Christians, farmers and professionals, traders and civil servants, soldiers and teachers, rich and poor. It is also the region that has suffered some of the highest casualties from terrorism, insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping.

The overwhelming majority of those murdered by Boko Haram, ISWAP, and bandits are northerners. The villages destroyed are northern villages. The displaced families are largely northern families. The children denied education are northern children. To blame the entire North for the actions of criminals is to punish victims alongside perpetrators.

That is neither fair nor accurate.

We must distinguish between Northern Nigeria and the failures of some northern elites. We must distinguish between ordinary northerners and criminal elements. We must distinguish between a region and the conditions that have allowed insecurity to flourish within parts of that region.

The reality is that Northern Nigeria faces profound challenges. No honest northerner should deny this.

We have millions of out-of-school children. We have unacceptable levels of poverty. We have communities abandoned by government. We have political leaders who have failed their people. We have religious and traditional institutions that must do more. We have decades of neglect that have created fertile ground for extremism and criminality.

These are truths that must be confronted.

But they are not uniquely northern failures.

Nigeria’s problems are interconnected. Corruption is national. Bad governance is national. Political opportunism is national. Ethnic manipulation is national. Criminality exists in every region, even if it manifests differently.

The answer is not to point fingers at a region. The answer is to confront the conditions that produce insecurity wherever they exist.

If Northern Nigeria requires educational reform, then let us pursue it.

If Northern Nigeria requires economic renewal, then let us invest in it.

If Northern Nigeria requires stronger community accountability, then let us build it.

If Northern Nigeria requires courageous leadership willing to tell hard truths, then let us demand it.

But let us not fall into the dangerous trap of regional blame.

History teaches us that nations are weakened when citizens begin to see entire regions as enemies rather than partners in solving common problems.

A terrorist has no tribe.

A kidnapper has no religion.

A criminal has no ethnicity.

And suffering does not discriminate.

The death of General Rabe Abubakar should unite Nigerians in grief, not divide us in accusation. The continued captivity of schoolchildren should unite Nigerians in outrage, not drive wedges between North and South.

The North is not Nigeria’s enemy.

Ignorance is.

Poverty is.

Bad governance is.

Corruption is.

Impunity is.

And the failure of leadership across all regions is.

We must be careful not to replace honest diagnosis with broad condemnation. The North does not need defenders who deny its challenges. Equally, it does not need critics who portray millions of innocent people as a threat to the nation.

What Nigeria needs today is truth, fairness, reform, and unity.

The challenges facing Northern Nigeria are real. The need for introspection is real. The urgency of reform is real.

But so too is the fact that Nigerians are one people, sharing one destiny.

No region will save Nigeria alone.

No region will destroy Nigeria alone.

And no region should be treated as the enemy.

Our future depends not on blaming one another, but on working together to defeat the forces that threaten us all.

Hf Dauda MoiSoro

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