Author: Hafsat Salisu Kabara

LAST week, I read a very lengthy article by Lasisi Olagunju published in The Nigerian Tribune on Monday, 15 June 2026, and what caught my attention most was its striking headline: “NORTHERN NIGERIA WILL SOON KILL NIGERIA.” Ah ahn, how exactly? When I first read the opening paragraph, my immediate reaction was outrage. How could he say such a thing? Was this another attempt to blame the North for every problem confronting Nigeria? If there is any region that has suffered most from insecurity, terrorism, banditry and kidnapping, it is Northern Nigeria itself. But as I continued reading, a different…

THERE was a time when insecurity was something happening somewhere else — a disturbing headline on the evening news, a tragedy in a distant village, or an attack in another state far removed from our daily lives. We would read the reports, shake our heads in sadness, offer prayers for the victims and their families, and then move on with our routines, believing that such horrors belonged to places beyond our immediate reality. Today, that feeling has changed. Insecurity no longer feels distant. It no longer feels like someone else’s problem. It has moved closer, quietly but steadily, until it…

Your Excellency, sir Our hearts are heavy. We are tired. Sincerely, A grieving nation. Voice just cleared its throat. Kabara is a writer and public commentator. Her syndicated column, Voice, appears in News Point Nigeria newspaper on Monday. She can be reached at hafceekay01@gmail.com.

The tears have not dried. ACROSS Nigeria, families continue to live through a nightmare that no parent should ever experience. Once again, children left their homes carrying school bags, books, and dreams of a better future, only to find themselves at the mercy of criminals. Whether in Oyo, Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, Katsina, or any other part of the country that has witnessed similar horrors, the story remains painfully familiar: innocent pupils disappear, communities are thrown into panic, and parents are left praying for the safe return of their children. For the victims, the trauma is unimaginable. For their families, every…

AROUND this time last year, as the spirit of Eid illuminated homes, streets, and hearts across Northern Nigeria, countless families waited with quiet hope for the return of their loved ones. Children marked the passing days with innocent anticipation, counting down to the moment they would finally embrace fathers who had spent long months away in search of a better life and a means of survival. Wives prepared their homes with joy and expectation, ready to welcome husbands who had become the backbone of their households. Parents, too, waited with trembling excitement for sons who were not just children, but…

EVERY year after JAMB releases its top scorers, Nigerians rush to celebrate brilliance. Pictures trend, names circulate, schools rejoice, and parents beam with pride. But this year, one painful thing stood out again: not one Northerner made the top ten. Sit with that for a moment. Not one. This is not East versus West or North versus South. This is about the future of millions of children quietly slipping through our fingers while we argue politics, trends, leaks, and tribe on social media. Not North West, not North East, not North Central. The entire North was absent. Something is deeply…

THERE was a time Nigerians believed freedom of speech was a right. Today, many people treat it like a risk. You watch your words before posting online. You lower your voice when discussing politics in public. You think twice before criticizing those in power, not because you are wrong, but because somewhere deep down, you are afraid, afraid of consequences, intimidation, and disappearing. The recent resurfacing of the Dadiyata case has once again reminded Nigerians of a question that has haunted this country for years: can citizens truly speak freely in Nigeria without fear? Dadiyata disappeared in 2019, and since…

EVERY year on May 1st, they gather and celebrate Workers’ Day, a day set aside to appreciate the Nigerian worker. The strong, resilient, ever-adapting citizen who somehow keeps this country moving. And honestly, well done to you if you are even employed, because that alone is now an achievement. We are not just dealing with poor working conditions anymore. We are now at a stage where people are actively searching for jobs like it’s a national sport. Degrees in hand, skills acquired, CVs polished to perfection and still, nothing. The one that baffles me most is this: you will see…

THERE’s a difference between living and surviving, but in Nigeria, we’ve blurred the line so badly that we now celebrate survival like it’s a life achievement. “Ah ah, you’re doing well o.” Doing what exactly? Breathing through chaos? Because tell me why waking up, navigating bad roads, unstable prices, unpredictable systems, and still managing to eat twice a day has now become something we applaud like a milestone. Since when did basic existence become success? We are not living; we are coping endlessly. How I see living is having plans that don’t get disrupted by policies you didn’t create. Living…

THERE is a particular kind of pain Nigerians are now forced to live with the kind that no longer shocks because it has become routine. It has been attack after attack, another community shattered, another set of families burying their dead. And as always, the pattern repeats itself with chilling precision: blood is shed, statements are sometimes released, condolences are offered, and then, nothing. When Bola Ahmed Tinubu addressed the bereaved in Jos, the words came, but the weight did not. And perhaps the deepest wound was not even in what was said, but in how it was done. Imagine…

A KANO-BASED tricycle rider, Malam Salisu Nafi’u, has recounted the painful circumstances surrounding the death of his wife, Hafsatu Yusuf, who died shortly after giving birth to quintuplets, leaving behind a large family and a grieving household struggling to cope with the loss. Speaking in an emotional interview with News Point Nigeria, the widower detailed how what began as a routine hospital visit quickly spiralled into a life-altering tragedy. According to Nafi’u, the incident began on a Tuesday when his wife complained of discomfort, despite having about six weeks left before her expected delivery date. “I thought it was just…

TRAGEDY struck in Kano State as Hafsat Yusuf, a woman who recently gave birth to quintuplets, died just hours after delivery at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital. Her husband, Salisu Nafiu, confirmed the incident to News Point Nigeria on Thursday, revealing that she died around 1:00am at the hospital. “She delivered the babies successfully in the afternoon, but we lost her in the early hours of today,” Nafiu said. “It is a painful loss for our family.” Despite the mother’s death, Nafiu noted that all five newborns three boys and two girls are alive and under close medical supervision. “The babies…

A WOMAN, Hafsatu Yusuf, has given birth to quintuplets at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, with the state government assuming responsibility for their medical care. A family source told News Point Nigeria on Wednesday that this is Hafsatu’s 10th delivery, bringing the total number of her children to 16. According to the source, the woman delivered the five babies, three boys and two girls shortly before the announcement was made. The source added that both the mother and the newborns are currently receiving specialised medical attention at the facility. The husband, Nafi’u Salisu, a tricycle rider, thanked the Kano State…

OVER the weekend, I stumbled upon a troubling video circulating on the streets of the Obasanjo internet, posted by Dan Bello. It got me thinking: what exactly is wrong with leadership in the North? I know our leaders have never been particularly famous for putting us first, but even by our very low standards, this felt bad. Is it envy or sheer wickedness? Ok, let’s just call it arrogance of power. Meanwhile, they can pay millions for theirs to attend fashion school, coding academies, software skills and other lucrative skills, but what’s meant to help the poor what should have…

YOU wake up, and you are hit with: The wars brewing and happening. Fresh bandit attacks on innocent villagers, new video footage released by the same bandits torturing their victims. Religious and tribal wars on social media, Nigerian politicians discussing re-elections, and it’s not even mid-year. Amid all this chaos, the real concern is us Nigerians: the North is bleeding. More villages are being attacked, another mosque stained with blood, and yet another press statement filled with “condemnations.” And then the usual cycle continues… This is the North. This is Nigeria. And this is our new normal. Bandits move freely,…

I RECENTLY read about developments in Malawi, where the government has moved decisively to stop public doctors from running private hospitals while neglecting government facilities. My first reaction was immediate and emotional: I wish the same political courage could find its way to Nigeria. Because here, this conversation is not theoretical. It is not policy talk for me. It is deeply personal. It is painful. It is raw. Exactly one year ago, I lost a dear friend. She went into a hospital to give birth. A cesarean section was performed. She was administered injections that were either too potent or…

FOR decades, fire has been one of the most destructive forces against bustling markets stripping traders of goods, wiping out livelihoods, and threatening the stability of the region’s commercial backbone. What too often goes unexamined is not just that these fires happen, but why, how often, and whether lessons from past disasters are actually being implemented. Over the past few years alone, a pattern of devastating fire outbreaks has emerged. In late 2025, a major fire consumed more than 500 temporary stalls at Shuwaki Market in the Gari Local Government Area, razing roughly half of the market’s 1,000 stalls and…

I WAS returning from a quiet evening stroll a few days ago when I noticed a group of boys sitting under a tree by the estate gate. About seven of them. They couldn’t have been more than seven to eleven years old. They were laughing, resting, talking nothing out of the ordinary at first glance. I was about to walk past when something in their conversation stopped me in my tracks. I slowed down. I listened. And what I heard sent a chill through my body. These were not the words of children who had been protected. They were not…

“The children of the poor you refuse to train will never allow your children have peace” Last week, We woke up again to news that shakes the soul. An entire family wiped out in their home. No warning. No mercy. No fear. The rate at which homicides are occurring in the country is deeply alarming. What frightens me even more is the creeping possibility that, like bomb attacks and kidnappings before it, we may soon grow numb to it, accepting it as the new normal. As much as I have tried to avoid news related to this incident, it keeps…

A NEW year has arrived, and like clockwork, Nigerians are hopeful again. We crossed over. We prayed our way into the new year. New resolutions. New declarations. We boldly declared that this year must be better. But hope, on its own, has never been a strategy. And prayer, without responsibility, has never fixed a broken system. Last year, we talked about painm, deep, exhausting, national pain. We spoke about political failure, about mental health struggles hidden behind the popular Nigerian mantra of “we move.” We talked about women carrying entire homes on their backs, children slipping quietly through the cracks,…