Sule Lamido, the former Jigawa governor, wants northerners to confront hard truths about insecurity ravaging the region. He made the remarks during an interview with Premier Radio in Kano this week.
The PDP chieftain blamed poor leadership and moral collapse for rising violence across the north. Between 2024 and 2025, bandits attacked at least 70 local government areas across six northern states.
Over 4,700 people have been affected by these attacks so far. Lamido believes establishing state police could help reverse the tide, but only with rigorous training and discipline.
"Where are Boko Haram members and bandits coming from?" he asked during the interview. "They are our children from the North.
They weren't thrown from the sky."
According to him, these insurgents thrive because northerners have abandoned moral values. "The fault is ours, and we must fix it, starting from the foundation and proper upbringing at home," Lamido noted.
He called on parents, politicians, and religious leaders to drop their differences. Sectarian and party rivalries must take a backseat to fighting insecurity, he argued.
"Someone will say Izala, another Qadiriyya, someone else this and that," he said. "This one says APC; another says PDP.
We are busy talking politics, while this menace continues to confront us."
Lamido pointed out that global standards make northern Nigeria's situation unacceptable. Wars occur worldwide, but they typically have clear justifications—religious or national defense, he explained.
"Here, however, the bloodshed defies every description," he stated. "There is absolutely no justification for it."
Nearly a decade of violence has fundamentally changed northern society. Human life has become a commodity—people are kidnapped, ransomed, and sometimes killed without reason.
He questioned what power truly means when governors cannot protect their citizens. "If you cannot protect your people, whoever controls them has become their leader," Lamido told reporters.
Criminals now effectively govern in places like Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara. Officials hold titles while bandits hold actual authority, he observed.
"If it were an Igbo man or Yoruba man or a Christian, we could perhaps argue differently," he said. "But this madness is happening among us."
Such lawlessness is virtually unimaginable elsewhere in the world. Homes are invaded, wives assaulted, and people abducted for ransom regularly in the north.
"We have drifted far from the natural order of humanity as ordained by God," Lamido added. He also criticized youth violence during political campaigns in the region.
"During political campaigns, they came out carrying sticks and all kinds of weapons," he noted. "Is this how it is done in Ghana, Niger Republic or England?"
Northerners must be honest with themselves to overcome these challenges. Without candid self-assessment, Lamido suggested, the region faces grim consequences ahead.
