A Kaduna-based rights activist has urged both the federal and state governments in Nigeria to end the bloodbath in the country, especially in the Middle Belt region of the West African oil-rich nation.
In a post titled, “The Unfortunate Price of ‘Second-Term’ Politics: Middle Belt Nigeria,” Zariyi Yusuf noted that the “Protection of lives and property must no longer be seen as strictly a Federal government responsibility; state governors and elected representatives must be held accountable as well.”
The Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, Veritas University, decried that “It does seem the primary focus of some politicians has moved away from impactful governance, if at all they swore their oath of office with sincerity, to scheming how to remain in power, come 2027.”
Former National Coordinator of the Middle Belt Patriots, Zariyi Yusuf. Credit: Yusuf Zariyi
He lampooned the government for failing to fulfill its responsibility to save lives and property, especially in the nation’s Middle Belt axis.
“It is my sincere belief that if the government has failed in protecting the lives of the peoples of the Middle Belt or eliminating these Islamists who kill with impunity and always get away freely, then it must allow for the people to arm and organize at community levels to protect what seems to be the only thing they have left – their lives and those of their loved ones.
“Kaduna and Plateau states have seen a lot of bloodshed within these past days with a kind of response I can best describe as either weak or cowardly from the state governors. There is an energy that forces one to think that even the response of these ‘chief security officers’ must be such that does not displease the centre,” he said.
Yusuf also mentioned that “Kaduna is notorious for suppression of the facts about the activities of these militant Islamists, who are more conveniently described as mere ‘bandits,’ thanks to the immediate past governor, Nasir Elrufa’i.”
Citing the case of “the Adara nation,” the activist noted that the predominantly Christian Southern Kaduna region “has suffered untold raids from these extremists with little or no media or government attention.”
The advocate for good governance recalled the sad incident of the abduction of Mrs Haske Solomon during a raid that occurred in the early hours of March 17th, 2026, plus three others who were kidnapped on the 10th of March, 2026, with a demand of a ransom of N20 million by the terrorists.
He also condemned “the recent massacres of Christians in these states (Kagarko in Kaduna and Unguwar Rukuba in Plateau)” while calling “on the political leaders of these states and the entirety of the Middle Belt to focus on their primary assignment and not betray their people in the pursuit of their political ambition.”
The Nigerian social and political analyst also lamented that “the report from Kagarko is heart breaking,” where 13 people were killed, 10 wounded and 28 kidnapped.
Yusuf referenced President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Plateau, saying it “betrayed how much the leadership in the Middle Belt is lacking.”
Yusuf Zariyi during a strategic stakeholders meeting. Credit: Yusuf Zariyi
According to him, “At least, someone would have insisted the president stayed back in Abuja and made a call to the victims or proceeded on his trip to Ogun, instead of dragging mourners to the airport to meet him. Something reminiscent of his visit to another Middle Beltan state, Benue, over the Yelewata massacre.”
The critic also disclosed that “the massive decamping of the politicians of the Middle Belt to the APC seems to have no bargain for their people other than the very hope of those politicians to clinch a second term or benefit their ambitions, as the case may be. At least in terms of the massacre of Middle Beltans, the mass decamping of the political leaders of the region to the ruling party has been of no consequence whatsoever.”
The former National Coordinator of the Middle Belt Patriots used the occasion to urge Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna to “suspend all antics about and against the 2027 elections, account for the security of his state and immediately attend to Kagarko,” stressing that “Silence about the security mess Kaduna state is in does not change the reality on the ground.”
