by Mohammed Bello Doka
8 October, 2026.
The North is hungry. The North is angry. The North is scared. The North is frustrated. And when hungry and angry people are pushed to the wall, they do not issue press releases. They do not hold press conferences. They do not write petitions to Abuja. They negotiate with stones, sticks, and cutlasses. They negotiate with fire. They negotiate with whatever their hands can find.
The warning signs are everywhere. In Zamfara, crowds at events meant to celebrate the APC’s campaign hierarchy chanted “Sai Atiku” instead of the slogans they were paid to chant. In Katsina, the same chant erupted at a presidential rally. In Kaduna, youths surrounded a campaign convoy and screamed “Bamayi” — we don’t want. In Kano, thugs attacked a vehicle carrying journalists and police after a rally, and residents complained openly that they were paid a paltry three thousand naira to attend. In Abuja, a popular musician was pelted with objects and forced off stage for singing in support of the ruling party. In Katsina and Kano, a Kannywood actor promoting the APC was chased by angry youths, leaving his cap behind as he fled.
These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a fever that is rising by the day. And yet, the political class in the North — governors, senators, traditional title holders, party chieftains — has been largely bought, seduced, or coerced into the APC. Eighty to ninety percent of the major political figures in the region have been absorbed into the ruling party’s structure. The governors collect the rice. They collect the money. They collect the appointments for their sons and daughters and cousins. They smile for photographs in Abuja. They nod when the instructions come from the center.
But the people are not nodding. The people are watching.
Consider what happened to Babagana Umara Zulum. Overnight, the governor of Borno State went from being the most celebrated governor in the North — the man who was praised for his courage, for staying with his people through the worst of the insurgency, for rolling up his sleeves and working — to one of the most insulted figures in the region. His offence? Five young men were detained in Maiduguri for wearing a shirt that said “Tinubu Must Go.” Five young men. One shirt. And a reputation built over years evaporated in the eyes of a people who now see him as just another politician protecting the center rather than standing with the streets.
That is how quickly the wind can change. That is how fragile the love of the people can be when they feel betrayed.
The governors must understand something fundamental: they can collect the rice, the money, and the appointments. They can attend the meetings in Abuja. They can pose for the photographs. But they must know when to stand with their people. Or at the very least, they must know when to stop pushing. Because pushing too much will break the pot. And when the pot breaks, everyone loses — including the governors themselves.
The statistics are chilling. Approximately 105 million Nigerians live below the poverty line, and about 90 percent of them are in the North . The North-West alone has 45.5 million poor people, the North-East 20.5 million . Roughly 86 million people in Northern Nigeria — 65 percent of the region’s population — are living in multidimensional poverty . Nigeria ranks 115th out of 123 countries on the Global Hunger Index, with a score of 32.8, indicating a serious level of hunger . Nearly 20 percent of the population is undernourished. A third of children under five are stunted. More than one in ten children do not live to see their fifth birthday . Food inflation reached 20.3 percent in July 2026, the sixth consecutive monthly increase, eroding the purchasing power of households that were already struggling to eat .
Education is in free fall. Only 10 percent of children aged 7 to 14 in the North-West can read. In the North-East, it is 12 percent . Nigeria has an estimated 18.3 to 20 million out-of-school children — the highest number in the world — and about 80 percent of them are in the North .
And the violence? In July 2026 alone, there were 596 security incidents and at least 570 confirmed fatalities across Nigeria, with the lethal weight concentrated in Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, and Benue . Between July 2025 and June 2026, 7,825 people were abducted across the country, a 66 percent increase from the previous year, and kidnappers collected more than $5 million in ransom payments . In the first 41 days of 2026, 1,258 people were killed in violence across Nigeria, with Borno, Niger, and Sokoto among the worst-hit states . Bandits raid villages, kill farmers, burn homes, and steal livestock with impunity . Schools are attacked. Aid workers are targeted. The countryside is emptying as people flee to camps where they live as refugees in their own land .
These are the conditions under which the people of the North are being told to smile, wave flags, and chant slogans for a government that many of them believe has abandoned them. These are the conditions under which governors are expected to deliver votes for a party that the streets are increasingly rejecting.
History offers lessons for those who care to listen. When people are pushed to the wall, they do not always behave rationally. The French Revolution did not begin with a carefully worded memorandum. It began with bread riots. The Arab Spring did not begin with a communiqué. It began when a young man set himself on fire in a Tunisian street. The people of Northern Nigeria are not immune to the same dynamics. They have endured poverty, insecurity, and neglect for years. They have watched their children die of malnutrition. They have buried relatives killed by bandits. They have seen their farms taken over by armed groups. They have waited for help that never came.
And now they are being asked to vote for the same party that has presided over this misery. They are being asked to chant for leaders who fly to Abuja to collect rice and money while their people starve. They are being asked to wear the caps and wave the flags and smile for the cameras.
The governors should not mistake silence for consent. The people are watching. The people are counting. The people are remembering.
The wise governor will collect what is given. He will take the rice. He will take the money. He will take the appointments. But he will also know when to step back. He will know when to stand with his people. He will know when to tell Abuja that enough is enough. He will know that his first loyalty is not to a party, not to a president, not to a campaign director-general, but to the people who live in his state, who buy food in his markets, who send their children to his schools, who bury their dead in his soil.
If he does not, he may find that the people will make the choice for him. And that choice will not be made in a polling unit. It will be made in the streets. It will be made with stones. It will be made with sticks. It will be made with fire. And when the pot breaks, it breaks for everyone.
The North is hungry. The North is angry. The North is scared. The North is frustrated. The governors can be the ones who calm the storm. Or they can be the ones who are swept away by it. The choice is theirs. But the clock is ticking.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com
Abuja Network News
