Joyce Mmereole Okoli
The Arewa Community Forum, Lagos Branch, has issued a fiery New Year message condemning Northern Nigerian leaders for what it calls decades of disastrous leadership, moral failure, and betrayal of the people’s trust.
In a blistering statement signed by its Chairman, Board of Trustees, Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Tanko, the Forum accused the region’s political and traditional elite of allowing insecurity, poverty, and social decay to spiral out of control, leaving millions in hopelessness. It warned that both history and God would ultimately demand accountability for the widespread suffering endured by ordinary citizens.
Dr. Tanko said the Forum was “ironically extending thanks” to Northern leaders for presiding over the collapse of regional stability, mass education, economic opportunity, and social cohesion, failures now attracting global embarrassment, including the United States’ recent designation of Nigeria as a *Country of Particular Concern.
He contrasted today’s realities with the immediate post-independence era, when selfless leaders upheld justice, fairness, and nation-building as core values.
The Forum celebrated the “visionary, selfless” leadership of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, whose investments in mass education and economic uplift—such as through the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC)—transformed the region and expanded opportunities for the poor.
The legacies of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Kashim Ibrahim, and Mallam Aminu Kano were also highlighted as examples of governance rooted in integrity, social justice, and developmental foresight.
Contrasting sharply with that era, the Forum said the North today is a “sad shadow of its former self,” overwhelmed by:
• Collapsed economic sectors
• Millions of out-of-school children
• Rising unemployment
• Youths pushed into street survival or branded terrorists
• Unending bloodshed caused by preventable insecurity
The statement alleged that resources meant for schools, hospitals, roads, and community development were diverted to “political empires, private luxuries, and criminal networks.”
It accused Northern political elites of enriching themselves with oil wealth, sending their children to foreign schools, while deploying uneducated local youths as political thugs.
“Insecurity has reduced our region to a struggle for survival,” Dr. Tanko said, lamenting that hopelessness among jobless youths grows daily while other regions embrace progress.
He warned that insecurity has become “a deliberate tool to suppress development,” insisting that those responsible would not escape the verdict of history.
Beyond human accountability, Dr. Tanko delivered a spiritual admonition, reminding leaders that ultimate judgment belongs to God.
“On the Day of Judgment, power, wealth, and influence will avail no one,” the statement declared.
The Arewa Community Forum stressed that its message was driven not by bitterness but by a commitment to truth, conscience, and love for the people of Northern Nigeria. It urged leaders to reflect deeply, return to the values of justice and service, and take bold action to rescue the region from further decline.