13/06/2026
A LETTER OF PARTICULAR CONCERN TO AREWA.
Dear Arewa,
I have lived and schooled in the North. In fact, virtually all my life has been spent there. It was where I grew up and had the opportunity to learn many valuable lessons about life, culture, community, and coexistence.
I was in the North at a time when peace was not a scarce commodity but a daily experience. We could venture deep into the bushes, whether for farming activities or simply as adventurous children exploring our surroundings, without the slightest fear of being k!dn@pped, att@cked, or harmed. Such thoughts never even crossed our minds. That alone speaks volumes about the level of peace and security we once enjoyed.
It therefore pains my heart to witness what is happening in the North today.
What is even more disheartening is watching the once outspoken North fall silent in the face of an ins€curity crisis of unprecedented proportions. Scores of people are being kill€d almost daily. Others are abducted from their homes and communities. Children are k!dnapped from schools. Families are thrown into mourning, and entire communities live in fear.
Yet, the North has remained largely silent.
Some argue that protests are haram in Islam, yet the same people find protests acceptable and even necessary when issues concerning Iran arise. What exactly is this hypocrisy about? Does it mean that Iranian lives are worth more than the thousands of lives lost across Northern Nigeria? Does it mean that the killings in the North have not yet reached the threshold required to spark massive protests or even a people's revolution?
How many more lives must be lost before enough becomes enough?
Just recently, we saw how Davido took a message of protest to a global stage. We have also seen Nigerians like Verydarkblackman take to the streets to lend their voices against injustice. Yet, in the heart of Northern Nigeria, there remains an unsettling silence, a deafening silence.
Where are the influencers, celebrities, Imams, and Malams of the North?
Where are the custodians of the region? Where are those who are always ready to speak when the need arises? Where are those who should be amplifying the message that Northern Lives Matter?
Now is the time to echo that message, not only within the comfort of our homes and private conversations, but in our streets, our mosques, our gatherings, and every public space available to us.
I am reminded of the period when Davido released content that many Muslims perceived as offensive to Islam. We witnessed an immediate and coordinated response. Muslims, celebrities, public figures, and opinion leaders all spoke with one voice. They demanded accountability and made their displeasure known.
I am compelled to specifically call out one of my favourite Kannywood actors, Ali Nuhu Mohammed, who was among the first celebrities to publicly ask Davido to bring down the video in question.
Sir, what happened to that voice now?
Why has it gone silent in the face of the bloodbath taking place across the North? Why are so many other Northern celebrities, who once spoke passionately on issues affecting their faith and values, nowhere to be found when innocent men, women, and children are being slaughtered?
Is this not hypocrisy in its purest form?
What exactly has happened to our humanity?
Today, I see some Northerners beginning to call on Northern celebrities and influential figures to speak up, just as Davido and other well-meaning Nigerians have done. That call is not misplaced. In times like these, silence is not neutrality, it is complicity.
This is not about religion, ethnicity, or politics. It is about human lives. It is about our collective conscience. It is about refusing to normalize bloodshed simply because it has become frequent.
The North that raised many of us was known for its hospitality, resilience, courage, and strong sense of community. We cannot afford to lose that spirit to fear, indifference, or selective outrage.
Northern lives matter.
The lives of our farmers matter.
The lives of our children matter.
The lives of our women matter.
The lives of every innocent person cut down by violence matter.
And at the end...
The North must survive. The South must survive. And Nigeria must survive, not in fragments of silence and sorrow, but as one nation bound by shared humanity and a shared future.
© Benjamin James
