Northern Nigeria’s 19 state governors and leading traditional rulers have converged on Kaduna for an emergency closed‑door meeting to confront the region’s deepening security crisis. The high‑level session, holding at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, brings together the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern Traditional Leaders Council to review rising banditry, terrorism, kidnappings and farmer‑herder clashes that have devastated communities across the North in recent months.
Hosted by Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, the meeting is co‑chaired by the Forum’s Chairman, Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, and the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, who leads the traditional rulers. Senior emirs, chiefs and other first‑class traditional rulers from across the 19 northern states are in attendance, alongside top security chiefs and federal representatives.
According to organisers, the focus is on designing a “coordinated and holistic” response to the wave of attacks that have left hundreds dead and forced thousands to flee their homes in the North‑West, North‑East and North‑Central zones.
Participants are expected to deliberate on intelligence‑sharing, joint security operations, community policing, and how to better support victims of violence, including displaced families and farmers unable to access their land. While the details of Monday’s discussions are yet to be made public, officials say the summit will produce a communiqué outlining collective decisions, pressure points for the federal government, and commitments by governors and traditional institutions to take tougher, unified action against criminal gangs and insurgents.
The emergency gathering underscores mounting alarm that without urgent, concerted measures, insecurity could further destabilise governance, food production and economic life across northern Nigeria.
