The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has expressed outrage over the resurgence of terrorist activities across the Northern zone of the country, raising the alarm that the zone is continuously drowning in blood, even as it accused the federal government of taking little or no action to tackle the daily killings.

This is even as the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Mohammad Sanusi II has lamented that the economy is biting harder by the day and every sector in the country is being battered and going down.

NEF in a statement at weekend, rejected what it described as the brutal killing of more than 20 Nigerian soldiers in a terrorist ambush near Bangi, in the Mariga Local Government Area of Niger State, describing the attack as clear evidence of the total collapse of security in Northern Nigeria.

The Northern elders therefore declared that the region is under the siege of terrorists, and urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on insecurity across Northern Nigeria.

NEF noted that last week’s attack on soldiers was not just as an isolated attack, but a declaration of war against the Nigerian state, one in which it regretted that “the state is steadily losing.”

In the statement issued by its spokesperson, Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere, the group condemned the massacre in the strongest possible terms and asserted that the North is “under siege” by terrorist groups that now operate with impunity throughout the region.

“More than 20 uniformed defenders of our nation were slaughtered like animals by a gang of well-armed terrorists who launched a bold, coordinated ambush that completely overwhelmed the military base. This is not just an attack; it is a declaration of war against the Nigerian state, and the state is losing.

“This brutal assault is merely the latest chapter in the ongoing bloodshed that has turned Northern Nigeria into a war zone throughout June 2025. From Benue to Plateau, Kwara to Kaduna, Zamfara to Sokoto, Borno, and now Niger, what we are witnessing is not mere insecurity; it is an unrelenting campaign of terror, mass murder, and state failure.

“Entire communities are being wiped out; homes are being torched, and lives are being shattered, while the killers roam freely, unchallenged and unpunished.

“The truth is stark and undeniable: the Nigerian government has failed abysmally and consistently in its constitutional duty to protect lives and property. The North is drowning in blood, its people abandoned, while the security forces are either unable to respond or completely absent.

“The Northern Elders Forum will no longer accept hollow condolences, tired speeches, or empty press releases. Nigerians deserve visible, aggressive, and accountable action now.

“If the Federal Government continues to delay, deflect, or downplay this crisis, the Nigerian people will have no choice but to believe, whether rightly or wrongly, that this inaction is willful or, worse, complicit.

The Northern leaders demanded the immediate declaration of a State of Emergency on security across Northern Nigeria, stressing that such declaration must be followed by decisive joint military and intelligence operations aimed at locating and eliminating every single terrorist and armed group threatening our people, regardless of who shelters them or where they operate.

“The blood of Northern Nigerians is not cheap. Our soldiers are not cannon fodder. Our citizens will not continue to die silently while a complacent government watches from a distance.

“The NEF warns in the clearest possible terms that continued federal inaction will provoke open resistance. The patience of our people has run out. The legitimacy of any government that cannot or will not protect its citizens is gone. Enough is enough. We will not be silent. The North will not kneel before terror,” he added.

Emir Sanusi, who made his lamentation in his remarks at the 51st regular National Executive Council, NEC, meeting/training and workshop organized by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU at the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano State, regretted that the country has been battered in all sectors, adding that citizens are facing hardship with fears of how to face the future.