Northern Nigeria is facing a deep and dangerous crisis.
Yet, its most influential leaders are consumed by internal political battles.
Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, is currently under detention.
He faces corruption and cybercrime allegations, which he firmly denies.
Moreover, El-Rufai insists the charges are politically motivated.
He says he is being punished for criticising a government he once supported.
The courts will decide the legal outcome.
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But politics is rarely only about legal documents.
This case is not just about El-Rufai.
It is about power, loyalty, and elite rivalry.
In fact, El-Rufai once worked closely with National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
They shared reformist ideals and political exile.
Today, both men stand on opposite sides of state authority.
Their fallout reflects deeper fractures within northern leadership.
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani, El-Rufai’s former protégé, is also estranged from him.
Mentorship has given way to political distance.
All these actors are northerners.
All are powerful.
All are divided.
The North Is Bleeding
Bandit groups now control parts of Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Kaduna.
Communities pay levies or flee their homes.
In the North-East, insurgency has not ended.
It has spread into neighbouring regions.
Poverty remains widespread and severe.
Food insecurity affects millions.
Most of Nigeria’s out-of-school children live in the North.
Maternal and child deaths remain alarmingly high.
Climate change intensifies land disputes.
Farmer-herder conflicts continue to escalate.
Even traditional institutions face crisis.
The Kano Emirate is divided and politicised.
This is not stability.
This is systemic breakdown.
So Why Are Leaders Fighting?
Past northern leaders disagreed but protected collective interests.
Today, fragmentation dominates.
Instead of coordination, there are rival camps.
Instead of strategy, there is retaliation.
Power seeks consolidation.
That reality is unchanged.
But can Arewa afford elite warfare amid collapse?
Accountability Is Not Enough
El-Rufai’s record remains controversial.
Many Nigerians feel little sympathy.
But sympathy is irrelevant here.
Survival is the issue.
Can a struggling region discard experience without building stronger alternatives?
In Kano, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II battles to retain a contested throne.
Reform agendas have stalled.
Political godfathers now fight their protégés.
Citizens gain nothing from these clashes.
Across the North, elite conflicts multiply.
Public welfare remains ignored.
The Real Failure
Where is the unified northern response to insecurity?
Where is the education emergency plan?
Where is the coordinated agricultural revival strategy?
Where is bipartisan cooperation?
Instead, the public sees division.
Markets and villages echo the same frustration.
People believe leaders chase power, not solutions.
That perception continues to spread.
History Will Judge
History does not reward internal feuds.
It remembers failures at critical moments.
Arewa does not lack talent or influence.
It lacks alignment.
The North is bleeding economically and socially.
It needs leadership without implosion.
If leaders fail to unite now,
future generations will remember this moment.
Not who won political battles.
But who chose conflict while the region bled.
