You can’t pretend to hide them forever. Neither can you dare ignore them. They are the rising stars of the North. They are bold with uncanny audacity. You can’t hate their guts.
Now that the bubbles have burst. The fiery radicals of the North are becoming daring. They are damning the consequences. With deliberate intention.
Basking on uncommon determination. They’re showcasing the hard stuff they are made of. These critical times even more forcefully. No pretension intended. No grandstanding feigned.
US President Donald Trump has provided the impetus. That’s what they badly needed. And they’re not in any way prepared to let the steam off carelessly. This golden chance won’t be wasted recklessly either.
The radicals have firmly grabbed the rare opportunity. Such that comes once in a lifetime. And they are currently running with it. With all the breath in them.
Undoubtedly, they have had fiery stars in the North before. To be honest, sure and sincere. The North never lacked notable radicals per time. They had them in reasonable abundance long before now.
Yes. In the ilk of, but not limited to: Queen Amina of Zaria, Mallam Aminu Kano, Hajia Gambo Sawaba, Balarabe Musa, Bala Usman and Audu Angale.
Let’s make a quick case study of Aminu Kano: A politician, teacher, poet, playwright and trade unionist. He fought for social justice and democracy every second of his chequered life. He never regretted. Not once.
He was a stinging thorn. In the smooth and thick skin of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the first and only Premier of the North. He held the North in the jugular between 1954 and 1966.
He succumbed to death in a bloody circumstance. He was felled in Nigeria’s first military coup of January 15, 1966. A proud Prince of the Sokoto Caliphate. In fact, he was its Sardauna.
Between him and Aminu Kano? There was no love lost. They didn’t see eye-to-eye. And neither of them faked it. The North was the crux of their matter. They disagreed vehemently. On how their North ought to be led and governed. Not how it must be ruled and ruined.
Two notable encounters stood out among many others between them. First was in 1963. The year Emir Muhammad Sanusi of Kano was deposed. (Father of Emir Lamido Sanusi.) It was “allegedly” by Bello’s defunct Northern Region Government.
Furious Aminu Kano stepped in. He dragged the unwilling Bello to the cleaners. He deftly opened up “the historical rivalry between Sokoto and Kano.”
AI Meta’s account of the second incident: “In another instance, when Aminu Kano visited Sokoto for a provincial constitutional conference, he stayed at Bello’s residence. The Sultan, Siddiq Abubakar III, extended a private invitation to Aminu, requesting a discreet 2 a.m. meeting.”
But the radical in Aminu would not let that be. It couldn’t have happened the way he wanted it: “However, upon learning that Aminu had informed Bello about the invitation, the Sultan grew furious and canceled the meeting.”
These events aptly defined their hide-and-seek relationships. That exposed the complex dynamics that played out between the duo. A trajectory soaked in regional tension, panic and fear.
Thanks heavens. Things are getting different now. Something good is happening to us. Particularly in their once “One North.” The North is racing into a changed world. A new North is emerging. It’s showing forth in radically different stars.
They’re the new brands of fiery radicals of the North. They are bound in leaps. They see beyond boundaries and borders. Into an enduring and bright future. Far and above the old, odd supposedly One North.
They are the new sheriffs in town. And Sheriff Abubakar Rabiu is their face. The upcoming northern radicals; its flagship. They’re speedily upturning the northern ecosystem. And there’s no stopping them. They remain unstoppable, unbreakable.
It’s the real change mantra. Not “from top-to-bottom.” Theirs is genuine from bottom-to-top. Not a revenge mission. But of mercy, grace and pardon. Nor a vision to avenge. But to encourage, comfort and forgive. That’s the proper way to access progress.
Rabiu is a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP). Old or not. Evidently, he’s young at heart. He gathered some stark, dirty realities. And placed them appropriately at the doorsteps of the northern oligarchs and Islamic clerics. The incident went viral on November 9, 2025. He was bold and unperturbed in his approach.
He squarely accused the clerics of “poisoning the minds of our youth with vituperative, inciting and dangerously divisive sermons.” Turning mosque pulpits into “platforms of warfare against Christians.”
He churned out a loud caution: “Nobody has the key to Jannatul Firdausi except Allah.” That’s expressly given: “Yet, any Tom, Dick and Harry with myopic knowledge of Islam wakes up, grabs a microphone and starts calling our Christian brothers ‘Arna’, ‘Kafurai’, ‘infidels’ destined for hell.”
Angry Rabiu was convinced: “This is not Islam. This is madness. And this madness gave birth to Boko Haram.” He correctly identified the two-headed monster dragging his beloved North to ruin.
He hanged one ugly tag on them; hate preaching and Almajiri system: “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Those street children you see begging today are tomorrow’s recruits, dummies and foot soldiers for every new terrorist franchise that promises them paradise for killing ‘infidels.’
“Let’s stop blaming America.” Rabiu was explosive but truthful: “Let us go back to our drawing board. Why did America put us on that list? Because some of our preachers behave like they are above the law.”
He let them to a factual fact: “Try that kind of sermon in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, even Cameroon. You’ll be arrested and executed the same day. But here in secular Nigeria, they insult Christians from Friday to Friday and nobody touches them.”
He reached out to President Bola Tinubu, governors and lawmakers. That’s actually where he was going. He challenged them: “Criminalise calling any Nigerian ‘arne’ or ‘kafir’ from the pulpit. Ban street begging by children (Almajiri system). And punish hate speech disguised as religious preaching.”
He dared them to their faces: “Do these sincerely, America will see we are serious. Fail, and we invite the same digital war machinery that turned Afghanistan and Iraq into graveyards.”
Rabiu couldn’t hide his love for restructuring: “If we implement these measures, Nigeria will return to the peace we enjoyed in the early 1970s when Muslims and Christians drank from the same cup, married each other’s sisters and buried each other’s dead.”
The North could not resist Rabiu’s candid views. A report confirmed this much: “In Kano’s Hotoro suburb, a youth leader who requested anonymity said: ‘This is the first time a big Muslim officer has spoken the truth to our face without fear. If our governors ignore him, they are the real enemies of Islam.’
“Attempts to reach the Kano Hisbah Board for comments were unsuccessful. But a senior official, speaking off-record, admitted: ‘Mallam Sheriff has said what many of us whisper in private. The question is, who will bell the cat?’”
The fire is ignited. Let it burn. It’s the harmattan fire desired in the North. No better time than the present.
Great kudos to Trump’s rhetoric on Christian genocide in Nigeria. He could have as well swept it under the dirtiest carpet. Others before him did just that.
They didn’t see what he is now seeing glaringly. Instead, they saw good business in it. Not at all genocide. Particularly the moukd of Barack Obama.
That’s one big reason he aided Muhammadu Buhari to power. He dispatched a solidarity team to the North on behalf of Buhari. They met with their governors, Sultan and their soul mates of differed shapes and shades.
The huge deceit is let loose. In the face of Trump’s invasion threat. The same characters are in the forefront. Flaunting our so-called sovereignty as a nation.
The very reason we MUST regain our lost sanity fast. And be clear about ourselves. We have surrounded this mountain for too long. We have walked this same tough, rough path many times over. Endlessly and aimlessly.
We can’t remain in this “unitary federation.” And expect to prosper. No one does it the way we do it and makes meaningful headway. It’s a dead-end, monumental disaster. Running ourselves aground timelessly.
Shall we not see it? Can’t we perceive it? We have great options. Viable choices. Genuine alternatives. They are in legion. Yes. In the league of true federalism, intentional devolution of powers, restructuring, et al.
This is our can-do list. That I can vow and vouch. What’s more! We have a very rich history to fall back on: Our proudly golden era. The pre-independence self-rule to shortly after independence.
That’s our easy pick. It’s everlasting. Forever evergreen. It won’t cost us a dime. For it is priceless. And at our beck and call.
Aren’t we lucky?
