A group of prominent Northern Nigerians calling themselves Concerned Citizens issued a stark warning on June 8, 2026, about Nigeria’s declining state. Their statement, signed by figures like Dr. Husseini Abdu, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, and Professor Attahiru Jega, painted a grim picture of democratic decay, institutional weakness, and regional instability. But while they got the diagnosis right, their prescription misses the mark entirely.
The Concerned Citizens argue that Nigeria faces threats to its constitutional foundations. They point to eroding accountability, a weakened separation of powers, and the spillover from the Sahel’s crisis. Their solutions focus on reforms within the existing system: better governance, stronger civic engagement, and improved regional diplomacy. It sounds sensible on the surface. But the real problem runs deeper.
Nigeria’s crisis isn’t that its constitutional foundations are under attack. It’s that those foundations were never properly laid. The 1999 Constitution wasn’t debated or democratically adopted. It was imposed by military decree, its opening words “We the People” a hollow contradiction. That unresolved legitimacy lies at the heart of the nation’s troubles. You can’t condemn unconstitutional changes abroad while ignoring the same issue at home.
The Concerned Citizens treat insecurity as a governance problem. It’s not. It’s a political one rooted in questions of power, identity, and territory. The violence in the Middle Belt, for instance, didn’t start with the Sahel crisis. It began decades ago when the Northern elite suppressed indigenous peoples demanding their own region. The splitting of Jos Local Government to favor Fulani control wasn’t about regional instability. It was about political architecture.
Nigeria calls itself a federation, but the center controls everything: security, policing, revenues, and political incentives. As long as that remains true, every election becomes a fight for central power, every reform a target for manipulation. Calls for electoral or judicial reform will keep hitting the same wall until we ask: Is Nigeria genuinely federal?
The Concerned Citizens appeal to institutions like the judiciary, civil society, and traditional rulers. But these institutions derive their authority from the same contested Constitution. You can’t fix a house by painting the walls when the foundation is cracked. The real question isn’t how to improve every institution within the current setup. It’s whether that setup reflects the consent of the people who live under it.
The remedy isn’t another round of tweaks. It’s a new constitution, one born directly from the peoples of Nigeria through nationality referendums. Only then can we settle questions of federalism, security, and resource control on a legitimate foundation. The Concerned Citizens have done a service by sounding the alarm. But their recommendations remain trapped in the very framework that created the crisis. Nigeria needs more than adjustments. It needs a fresh start.
Signed by Professor GG Darah, Professor SWE Ibodje, Professor Ropo Sekoni, and ten others.
