by Mohammed Bello Doka
August 22, 2026.
The trap has been set. The bait is out. And once again, the President has turned his gaze northward. The appointment of Senator Abdulaziz Yari as the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 elections is not a sign of trust, not a badge of honor, but a death knell for political relevance. History has a cruel way of repeating itself in the court of Bola Tinubu, and the graveyard of Northern political careers is filled with the tombstones of those who once danced to this same tune. This is not a celebration; it is a stark warning—a warning to a man I have never admired, but a man the North cannot afford to lose to the political wilderness.
Over the last few weeks, my phone has not stopped buzzing. It has been a relentless barrage of calls from some of the most prominent Nigerians in the political stratosphere. Industrialists, elder statesmen, and high-ranking politicians have all been calling, their voices thick with curiosity and anxiety, all asking the same questions: “Who is Abdulaziz Yari, really?” “What do you think of his character?” “Can he survive this?” These are men and women of immense influence, and I know with absolute certainty that many of them will read every single word of this essay. They are watching, and so is the North.
My answers to them were as brutal as the realities of Zamfara State itself. There is no denying that Yari is, by a wide margin, one of the most influential Northerners standing in the political arena today. He is a man of immense generosity, an open-handed giver whose kindness to the downtrodden is legendary. He is supportive to a fault, a pillar that has held many fragile political structures together in the Northwest. But I made it categorically clear to every caller: I have never liked him. Why? Because the numbers do not lie. Yari’s policies, when he held sway as Governor, were retrogressive, dictatorial, and alarmingly detached from the developmental needs of the common man. As someone who bleeds the red earth of Zamfara, I felt—and still feel—a profound sense of shame and disappointment at the staggering poverty figures, the suffocating illiteracy, the gnawing hunger, and the soul-crushing unemployment that plague our people. When I look at Zamfara’s trajectory, I honestly do not think any politician from our state deserves my unadulterated praise.
However, despite my personal reservations, Yari is a Northerner. He is a generous giver and an undeniable pillar of the Northern establishment. This is precisely why I have taken up my pen. This is a reminder, a cautionary tale, and a desperate prayer that he does not remember this warning only when the guillotine has already fallen and his political head is rolling in the dust. I hope and pray that as he reads this, the echoes of our ancestors ring loud in his ears. I do not believe for a single jot that Yari is unaware of what I am about to tell him. He knows the terrain. He has seen the game played before. But knowing is not enough; he must act. I want to believe he will live up to the famous Zamfara saying, Galma Uwar Rufi—the grand old leader who stands firm at the market square, protecting the collective interest, not just his own glittering ego.
Having stated this, I want Yari to do something radical. I want him to lock himself in a room, away from the sycophants and the cocktail of false praise, and ask himself these fundamental questions—and answer them with excruciating honesty.
Question Number One: Who were the Campaign Director-General and Secretary of Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council in 2023? Where are they today? What influence do they wield in the grand scheme of things today? Simon Bako Lalong—the man who carried the weight of the campaign—was used, dumped, and abandoned. He currently sits in the Senate as a mere backbencher, a ghost of the political powerhouse he once was. James Abiodun Faleke—the meticulous Secretary who dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s—is nowhere near the cabinet. He is relegated to a committee chairmanship in the House, a far cry from the corridors of real power. They were the engines of the machine, and now they are spare parts rusting in the rain. Used. Dumped. Abandoned.
Question Number Two: Where are the prominent Northern voices of Tinubu’s 2023 political campaigns? Where is Nasir El-Rufai—the Kaduna strongman who practically mortgaged his political capital for Tinubu? He is currently nursing wounds, publicly rejected by the establishment and vowing revenge. Where is Abdullahi Ganduje, the Kano titan who handed over the APC structure? He has been humiliated, removed as National Chairman, and left scrambling for relevance. Where is Yahaya Bello—the youthful dynamo from Kogi? He is entangled in EFCC trials, fighting for his liberty rather than shaping policy. Where is Aminu Masari? Where is Tanko Almakura? They are shadows of their former selves, discarded like old, worn-out slippers. Even Badaru, despite briefly holding the Defence portfolio, has now been relegated to the political backyard. The humiliation was complete at the recent APC national convention in March 2026, when the former Defence Minister—who once commanded heavy security escorts and unimpeded access across the country—was denied access to the VIP wing of the convention venue by junior security officers. A viral video captured the moment, showing the same officers who once would have saluted and escorted him now acting as gatekeepers, enforcing protocol without exception. With the exception of Bello Matawalle, the lot of them have been used, dumped, and abandoned.
Question Number Three: Yari must ask himself, with his hand on his chest, how many promises has Tinubu made to him privately that have ever been fulfilled? Let us not be naive. We all know the secret handshakes, the whispered assurances, the glittering promises of influence and autonomy that were used to seduce these Northern giants. Look at the track record. If Tinubu promised El-Rufai the world, where is the world? If he promised Ganduje a free hand, where is the hand? Yari must ask himself: Is he 100 percent sure, beyond any shadow of a reasonable doubt, that Tinubu will fulfill these new sets of promises regarding the 2027 campaign? Or is he simply the next checkmark on a long list of conquests?
Beyond the current hollabaloo, beyond the deafening songs of the political sirens, beyond the retinue of courtiers clapping and bowing at his feet—Yari must step aside. He must step away from the noise. He must think, reason, and give himself the answers he desperately needs. He needs this clarity now more than ever. He needs to realize that the pattern is undeniable. Used. Dumped. Abandoned.
Will Yari be the exception to this iron-clad rule, or will this be yet another elaborate trap? I have always lived by the wisdom of the street: If it looks like a trap, if it smells like a trap, then it is a trap. The glitter of the appointment is blinding, but the mechanism of the snare is obvious to anyone who dares to look.
It is far too early for Senator Yari and his jubilant team to break out the champagne and celebrate. This celebration is premature, and the hangover will be deadly. I write this warning not because I have any affection for Abdulaziz Yari or any animosity towards him—my personal feelings are irrelevant to this discourse. I write this because the North needs Yari. The North needs its leaders to be shrewd, vigilant, and unyielding. The North cannot afford to lose another titan to the political guillotine of transactional betrayal. The North cannot watch another son be wrapped in the silken robes of a temporary title, only to be thrown into the abyss of irrelevance when the election is won.
Listen, Senator. Look at the horizon. The history is written in blood and political tears. Do not be the next chapter in this long, sordid tale of endless betrayals. The choice, as always, is yours. But if the trap is set, and it fits the description perfectly, do not say you were not warned. Do not say the trumpet did not sound. The North is watching, waiting, and hoping that for once, the cycle of use and dump is broken—before it is too late to fix.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com
Abuja Network News
