As the political class begins early manoeuvring ahead of the 2027 general election, Director-General of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof. Doknan Sheni, has warned that the North risks a deeper collapse into ethno-religious tension unless it deliberately returns to the spirit of inclusive politics pioneered by the late Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello.
Speaking as lead presenter at an expanded meeting of the National Political Consultative Group (NPCG) in Abuja at the weekend, Sheni faulted politicians who continue to weaponise ethnicity and faith for electoral gain, stressing that such identity manipulation has become the biggest threat to internal cohesion in the region — and by extension, Nigeria.
He argued that if the North is serious about 2027, then a massive public enlightenment drive must be launched to push voters away from sentimental politics and back to ideology, values, and party manifestos.
Sheni insisted that political leaders across party lines must subordinate personal ambition to national interest, embrace rule-based democracy, and end what he called the “do-or-die” culture of power pursuit.
“Elites are profiting from division,” he said. “Unless identity issues are managed with wisdom, the region will remain trapped in crisis.”
He called on traditional rulers and clerics to watch their words, noting that inciteful rhetoric, both privately and publicly, is now dangerously rampant, and urged strict enforcement of the Electoral Act to curb vote-buying and other abuses.
Recalling the Sardauna era, Sheni questioned how the North drifted from a legacy of merit-driven inclusion to today’s stark religious and ethnic polarisation.
He cited Christian technocrats like Sunday Awoniyi (Kogi) and J.D. Durlong (Shendam, Plateau) who served as super Permanent Secretaries under Sardauna; his own late father, Danjuma Denham Sheni, sponsored by the Northern Region to Oxford and later serving as District Officer in Hadejia and Kano; the appointment of Ambassador Yahaya Kwande and Hon. Michael Audu Buba, a non-Hausa-Fulani minority Christian who was Minister of Trade and Commerce; and Yildu, a Christian from Sokoto who rose to Secretary to the Government of Sokoto State.
“Can governors today deliberately appoint people outside their own religious or ethnic stock into top roles?” he asked. “Small gestures of fairness shape big perceptions of unity.”
To operationalise a return to that Sardauna template, Sheni proposed that northern stakeholders convene a summit in Q1 2026 to harmonise agenda and strategy ahead of 2027.
He further recommended the constitution of a committee with representatives from all northern states to draft a Northern Development Blueprint to be adopted at that summit.
