A former Minister of Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung has criticised Northern governors, senior government officials of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who recently gathered at the Arewa House in Kaduna for the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation to address the region’s challenges.
Dalung said the meeting, rather than deliberating on the escalating security crisis and humanitarian catastrophe afflicting the North, “was shamelessly” reduced to political grandstanding, culminating in an endorsement of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid for 2027.
In a post on his verified Facebook account, titled: “A Region Betrayed: The Hypocrisy of Northern Leaders Amid Unfolding Tragedies” Dalung said the meeting which was held at the iconic Arewa House, the very residence where Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, was assassinated during the 1966 coup, was nothing short of a betrayal of the people he once served with honour and selflessness.
Dalung argued that, “the irony could not have been more tragic: a venue symbolic of legacy and sacrifice was desecrated by false narratives and hollow rhetoric.”
Dalung maintained that despite the continuing bloodbath and cries across the Northern region from Plateau to Benue, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi states in July 27, 2025, yet, these urgent cries were not even mentioned during the summit.
“Just a week earlier, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, over 38 innocent Nigerians were slaughtered by armed bandits after a ransom of ₦50 million was paid. To date, over 250 women, nursing mothers, children, and elderly persons remain in captivity, exposed to the harsh elements of rain and sun, facing excruciating trauma and starvation.”
He further stressed, “A recent video released by the bandits shows these victims crying out to their state governments for help, a plea that continues to fall on deaf ears.”
According to Dalung, the 23 million out-of-school children in Northern Nigeria, the highest in the world, widespread poverty, hunger, and economic hardship devastating the region, mass displacement from ancestral lands due to terrorism and banditry and the collapse of public education and healthcare systems across many states and many more are some of the challenges confronting Northern Nigeria .
He asked, “What exactly is wrong with governance and leadership in Northern Nigeria? Where is the conscience of those entrusted with the welfare of the people? Have we, as leaders, lost all sense of empathy and accountability?”
The former Minister also stated that the gathering in Kaduna was not a council of concern, but a “festival of hypocrisy to assemble in the hallowed halls once graced by a revered patriot like Sir Ahmadu Bello and turn it into a platform for deceit and political propaganda is an unforgivable insult to the North and its people.
“This is no longer just a leadership failure, it is a moral collapse. The blood of the innocent cries out from Plateau to Zamfara. If our leaders can ignore this carnage and still sleep well at night, then the North is truly orphaned,” he said.
