Dogara Laments: ‘The North is Under a Curse’ Amid Rising Hardship

Yakubu Dogara, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has cautioned that the extent of the murders and violence in northern Nigeria has cast the area under a spiritual curse and that the situation needs to be handled as a national emergency.

During a panel discussion at the Nigeria Investment and Industrialization Summit (NNIIS) 2025, which was hosted by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) in Abuja on Tuesday, Dogara stated that the situation has transcended typical socio-political issues.

Because it is human blood, “if you are a person of faith, you will know that we are operating under a curse with the kind of bloodletting we are witnessing in the North,” the former Speaker stated.

He expressed regret that the level of poverty and insecurity in the area had catastrophically increased and cautioned that unless immediate action was made to solve the situation, Nigeria’s overall progress would continue to halt.

It is not a regional prerogative to develop northern Nigeria. We have to consider it a national emergency. He warned that Nigeria would not advance if the enormous population in the North remained undeveloped.

Dogara pushed northern leaders and people to take control of their own fate and break out from a culture that relies on outside help.

Instead of carrying on with our routine, we must adopt radical, revolutionary action. He said, “We have to take control of our own destiny because help is not coming from anywhere.”