By Al-Amin Isa
Across the world, nations fall when their people sleep. Regions collapse when they mistake carefully-engineered chaos for natural misfortune. And today, the North of Nigeria stands at such a dangerous crossroads. A silent, well-organised, well-funded campaign is unfolding, one designed not only to deepen the Christian–Muslim divide, but also to shatter the centuries-old brotherhood between Hausa-Fulani, weaken our economic base, distort our politics, and push the region toward a Sudan-style fragmentation or Somalia-type endless crisis.
Those who think this is exaggeration should look carefully at the signs, because they are everywhere.
HOW WE GOT HERE: THE LIBYA–MALI EFFECT AND THE HIDDEN HANDS BEHIND OUR CRISIS
The collapse of Libya released a flood of weapons into the Sahel. Mali’s instability turned the region into a corridor of armed groups. Nigeria became the next target, not by accident, but by design. From the days Boko Haram expanded, to the rise of banditry, to the sudden sophistication of criminal gangs in the North-West, the pattern has been clear: someone benefits each time the North bleeds. These external crises created opportunities, opportunities that shadowy interests, both local and foreign, quickly hijacked: To weaken the northern economy. To displace local authority structures. To sow distrust between Muslim and Christian communities. To turn Hausa-Fulani brothers into mutual suspects. To distract political leaders from unity and development. To destroy the North’s negotiating power in national politics. Those who understand geopolitics know: nothing destabilises a region faster than a carefully inserted religious rift and an armed internal conflict. Today’s banditry and insurgency are no longer mere crimes, they have become weapons of political and social engineering.
THE NEW FRONT: TURNING NORTHERNERS AGAINST THEMSELVES.
You have seen the script: Imaginary “Christian genocide” claims being circulated deliberately. Shouts of “Ban Shari’ah!” amplified suddenly. Manufactured outrage pushed by both fringe “Northern Muslim Right Defenders” and Southern “Pentecostal Pastopreneurs.” Whenever both extremes cry at the same time, understand one thing clearly: Something good for Nigeria, but not good for their pockets or political ambitions, is happening.
The aim is simple: Divide northern Muslims and Christians. Break Hausa–Fulani cohesion. Trigger suspicion, fear, and reactionary politics. Push the North into permanent internal conflict. Destroy our economic and political leverage. This is not a spontaneous disagreement. It is a strategic operation.
THE KANO BANDITS INCIDENT: A MESSAGE TO THE NORTH.
The recent incursion of bandits into Kano State, one of the few states still holding an economic backbone, is not random. It is part of a broader push to: Cripple remaining northern commercial hubs. Isolate northern industries. Frighten investors. Exhaust communities. Erase the last pockets of stability. If Kano collapses, the ripple effect will shake the entire region. We must not pretend not to see the writing on the wall.
THE NORTH’S INTERNAL FAILURE: OUR LEADERS ARE HELPING THE ENEMY.
Let us speak frankly.
The North is not isolated by Nigeria; the North is isolated by northern leaders. We inherited the greatest political advantages in Nigeria’s history, but squandered them through selfishness, rivalry, shallow planning, and elite indifference.
Look at our political strategies:
2015: insecurity narrative
2019: “Next Level”consolidation
2023: Muslim–Muslim ticket
2027: a new political gamble is coming
But strategy alone cannot save a region that is internally fractured. Silence is treachery at a time like this. Some of them have already fallen into the enemies’ trap, by heating up religious tension, by attacking their own people for political gain, by repeating divisive narratives, by abandoning the masses to insecurity, and by forgetting that their duty is to heal, not to harm.
WHAT THE NORTH MUST DO NOW
This is the moment for clarity, not emotion.
We must understand that: Northern diversity is real and permanent. Christian–Muslim coexistence is not optional. Hausa–Fulani brotherhood is an oldest strength. Unity is not charity, it is geopolitical survival. Any northern leader inflaming division is an enemy of the people. The North must rebuild from within: Human empowerment, not token politics. Without empowered youths, insecurity will continue to find foot soldiers. Real infrastructure, not propaganda. Roads, markets, railways and energy hubs are the backbone of a thriving region. Accountable leadership, not silence. The North needs leaders who will confront Abuja when necessary, defend local communities, and speak boldly. Restore internal trust: Between Muslims and Christians. Between various warring ethnic group in the north and Hausa-Fulani. Between leaders and followers. Our enemies are not in Abuja, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano, Maiduguri, Bauchi or Jos. They are in the shadows, funding chaos, supplying weapons, pushing narratives, and celebrating every time the North quarrels with itself.
THIS IS AN ALL-TIME WAR.
This is not politics. This is not campaign analysis. This is not mere insecurity. This is an all-time war on the unity of the North. A war that uses: Religion as fuel, ethnicity as a blade, insecurity as the delivery mechanism, division as the final prize. If we continue sleeping, we may wake up one day to find that the North we inherited no longer exists.
THE NORTH MUST WAKE UP—NOW.
Every policymaker, every business leader, every scholar, every youth, every traditional authority must understand: we are being played. And some of our own people, blindly or deliberately, are helping the agenda unfold. If the North falls, Nigeria will shake, but the North will never rise again.
We must not allow that.
This is the time to, think clearly, speak wisely, unite sincerely, protect fiercely, and act decisively. Because the destiny of millions depends on what the North chooses to do, or fails to do today.
