Renowned elder statesman and academic, Professor Yusufu Turaki, has issued a searing indictment of the political and security architecture of Northern Nigeria, warning that the region is currently operating as a “state within a state.”
In a detailed analysis reported by The Sun on Saturday, April 4, 2026, Turaki attributed the North’s persistent underdevelopment and relentless cycles of violence to a broken political configuration that prioritizes religious and ethnic divisions over unified governance.
Professor Turaki argued that the current instability is not accidental but is rooted in the political geography of the North.
He explained that longstanding ethnic, religious, and regional fault lines have been amplified rather than managed, creating a fragmented society where human misconduct and social challenges thrive.
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According to Turaki, this arrangement has made it nearly impossible to implement effective policies that serve the entire population.
Instead, these entrenched divisions have interacted with governance failures to systematically weaken state authority.
The Professor highlighted a disturbing trend where the Nigerian state appears to be losing its monopoly on power to non-state actors, particularly in rural communities.
He pointed to the harrowing reality of citizens being forced to pay levies to armed groups including bandits, Boko Haram, and the Lakurawa simply to access their farmlands or remain in their ancestral homes.