The people of Northern Nigeria are being treated as second-class citizens in their own country. They face hostility, suspicion and intolerance, and denied basic rights due to every Nigerian. Such prejudice casts serious doubt on our claim to nationhood—a nationhood that demands we see each other first as fellow citizens, not defined by tribe, religion or region.

A group of Hausa-Fulani victims were on their way from Port Harcourt to Kano to celebrate the Eid-al-Fitr when they were stopped by vigilantes in Uromi, Edo State. Hunting guns and dogs were found in their possession, and the vigilantes accused them of being kidnappers. The Northern hunters claimed to have licenses for the guns, but it did not help them. Sixteen of them were lynched by the community mob and burnt alive. Neither law enforcement nor community members came to their rescue.

If these hunters were not northerners or had another religious affiliation other than Islam, they would not have been killed. The vigilantes would not have thought of slaughtering similar suspects if they were of similar ethnicity because they see them as citizens with fundamental rights. On various occasions, kidnappers were caught in the South and were handed over to the authorities. There were suspected cases of human flesh eaters and organ harvesters, but their crimes did not warrant instant massacre because they were considered locals.

Likewise, the lukewarm attitude of the onlookers seems to indicate consent to such a barbaric, inhumane act. From the video clips of the people around the burning of the 16 people, there was an indication that the community members were comfortable watching this traumatic incident being carried out.

And this is not the first time—it has happened before—and southerners were not worried about it. In 2021, the Hausa community in the South-East were persistently targeted. In one week, 13 Hausa traders were killed in Enugu and Imo states together with their livestock. Ahmed Gulak, a former aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, was assassinated in Owerri, Imo State, on May 2021 30. In 2022, pregnant Harira Jubril and her four little daughters were brutally massacred in front of bystanders in Anambra.

All these killings share an instinct: suspicion, envy and the urge to take the law into one’s own hands. Socioeconomic and climate conditions may not be favourable to northerners, but this does not take away their rights in their country. I speak of freedom of movement and seeking a job anywhere in the country. And yes, northerners are free to hunt according to the law.

Condemning the massacre by the Edo State governor and one senator was notable, but that seems to be about it. I doubt any other group from the region will lend their voice to condemn this barbaric act. There is no doubt that ethnic profiling drove this barbaric act, and they are not looking at addressing this endemic problem, making one wonder what good in living in a nation that cannot protect people’s lives and properties.

Aside from the two politicians, no other Southern elder, community or traditional leader, religious leaders like pastors, intellectuals, or activists spoke on the record to denounce this atrocity. The silence feels like the southerners are consenting to this massacre because this regularly happens whenever there is a similar incidence in the North.

On the contrary, whenever such acts happen in the North, we hear the southern intellectuals, activists, and pastors asking for northern elders to come out and condemn the acts. Of course, like the submissive partner, our northern elders will indulge. And whenever our elders condemn a heinous act by terrorists, the southerners turn it around to make it sound like they are taking responsibility for the act.

In hindsight, this kind of response from the northerners must be reconsidered. Taking a script from a motor accident solicitor, apologising after a car accident implicitly makes one guilty.

Now, to our point of discussion.

Let’s be clear: the murdered hunters were not wrong in their actions. If they were wrong, then the Nigerian Constitution is wrong. If that is wrong, then our founding fathers and even the colonial masters, like Lord Lugard, were builders of castles in the air.

For the record, they are not wrong.

If this is a new norm, slaughtering northerners in the South because they “look suspicious”, then we have to question whether Nigeria is a nation in anything but name. A nation implies shared citizenship. Shared rights. A presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. These men were Nigerians. They were not armed bandits or trespassers. They were in a vehicle going home for Eid.

Incidents like this confirm that we are a federation of hostile communities rather than a nation. The Constitution says every Nigerian has the right to live and move freely. But reality tells a different story—accent, dress and religion are now death sentences.

Again, these killings did not start in the past few years and are not looking to stop anytime soon. The 1966 killings in the North, the Zangon Kataf crisis, the Jos massacres, the reprisal killings after Boko Haram attacks in the South—all point to one thing: beneath the official map, there is doubt that our national bond is weak.

Doubt casts doubt, but doubt is not death. We can build a new Nigeria if we choose. But that means political courage and honest reflection.

If there had been a secession referendum on our constitution, northerners would have considered triggering it today. Perhaps the National Assembly should debate such a bill as part of its ongoing constitutional amendment discussions. Even if it fails, like many other bills, at least it will educate the populace.