I have known Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai since 1972. I was one year his senior.  We were students of Barewa College, Zaria, one of the country's foremost institutions of learning and, for generations of Northern Nigerian boys, an institution that shaped not only our education but also our character, outlook and understanding of public service. My knowledge of El-Rufai did not begin with politics. It did not begin with his appointment to government. It did not begin with his tenure as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory or Governor of Kaduna State. I knew him before he became El-Rufai the public figure. I knew him as a young Barewa student, "the giant", as he was fondly referred. That distinction is important. Over the years, I have watched his remarkable transformation from a young student into a quantity surveyor, businessman, public administrator, reformer, minister, governor and one of the most controversial, but undoubtedly consequential, figures in contemporary Nigeri...

Northern Nigeria Perspective Quarterly Journal of Policy, Politics & People VOL. 1 • SPECIAL ISSUE ENDORESED BY ADC PUBLISHED: AUGUST 2026 His Excellency Alhaji (Dr.) Atiku Abubakar, GCON - Waziri Adamawa and Former Vice President of Nigeria THE AGENDA TO RESCUE NIGERIA COME 2027 Restoring Stability, Rebuilding Education, & Igniting Economic Prosperity From the Desk of the Coordinator Dear Readers, As Nigeria approaches the critical political crossroads of 2027, Northern Nigeria urgently requires a media platform that is bold, analytical, and uncompromisingly committed to our region’s development. This special edition of Northern Nigeria Perspective —our premier issue endorsed by the African Democratic Congress —was born out of necessity. For years, our country...

The Middle Belt Forum’s 17 August 2026 statement on the Federal Government’s cattle-ranching policy is troubling not because concerns about land acquisition, consultation, compensation or security are illegitimate, but because it frames them within a doctrine of ethnic territorial ownership. At its core is a claim that must be rejected: that parts of Nigeria belong exclusively to particular ethnic groups and that other Nigerians may be treated as outsiders regardless of citizenship or constitutional rights. This is inconsistent with the Constitution and with the region’s complex history. It seems to have been a page extracted right out of a Stone Age Manuscript!  2. The portrayal of Adamawa, Taraba and parts of Plateau State as exclusively indigenous Middle Belt territory from which Fulani people are historical outsiders is a historical and political revisionism. The Fulani are not strangers to these areas any more than other ethnic groups. In Adamawa and Taraba in par...