By Obins Nuhu Isaac
+2348036914380 isaacobins@gmail.com
October 14, 2025

The recent call by a self-styled “Forum of Southern Kaduna Professors” urging Senator Sunday Katung to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the name of “strategic alignment” exposes more about the declining moral compass of our political elite than any supposed new dawn for Southern Kaduna.

To begin with, it is intellectually dishonest to claim that “Southern Kaduna is 100% for Tinubu in 2027.” No community of conscious citizens can ever be 100% for any individual or party — unless what is being proposed is political slavery. Southern Kaduna has never been a zone of herd mentality; it has always been a bastion of conscience, courage, and conviction. Our history of standing for justice and equity, even when it is unpopular or unrewarding, remains our badge of honour.

It is therefore laughable — and indeed tragic — that a few individuals hiding under academic titles now seek to trade the soul of a people for crumbs of temporary convenience. The attempt to dress partisan lobbying as “pragmatic politics” is an insult to the intelligence of Southern Kaduna people. If development were truly tied to party alignment, then the years of our leaders who fraternized with the centre would have transformed our communities long ago. But what do we have to show? Poor roads, decaying schools, insecurity, poverty, and political tokenism dressed up as “federal presence.”

Let us not mistake political appointments or sited institutions for structural transformation. Southern Kaduna has received “projects” before — yet our youth remain unemployed, our communities unsafe, and our voices marginalized in the corridors of power. Development is not a gift from above; it is the fruit of visionary leadership, integrity, and the courage to challenge injustice — not to bow before it.

Senator Sunday Katung was elected on the strength of his credibility, performance, and people’s trust — not because of party label, and certainly not because of those who now wish to mortgage that trust on the altar of opportunism. His legislative record speaks for itself. The attempt to lure him into the same political fold that has repeatedly undermined the aspirations of Southern Kaduna is both cynical and self-serving.

The so-called professors claim that their advice is “not about partisan loyalty but strategy.” But what strategy sells one’s principles for promises? What strategy blinds scholars to the lived realities of hunger, insecurity, and betrayal under the same administration they now praise? True scholarship is founded on truth, not political calculation. Intellectuals are meant to challenge power, not curry its favour.

It is even more curious that this sudden “Forum of Professors” has never publicly spoken against the mass killings in Southern Kaduna, the neglect of our rural communities, or the gross underrepresentation of our people in federal appointments — yet they have found their voice only when it comes to urging a defection. That silence speaks louder than their press conference.

But beyond politics, these professors must first address their disconnect from the grassroots they now pretend to represent. What practical opportunities have they brought to the electorates they claim to speak for? How many scholarships, mentorships, research-based community projects, or skills programs have they initiated for the unemployed youths in their own local governments? It is hypocrisy of the highest order for academics who have failed to empower their immediate communities to now pontificate about political “alignment” for development.

If their moral compass were intact, they would be at the forefront of reforming the rotting Nigerian educational system — a system under their watch that has been crippled by endless strikes, outdated curricula, poor funding, and the exodus of talented minds. The Nigerian university has become a shadow of its promise, and yet these same professors, instead of confronting the decay, are busy chasing political favour.

Let them, therefore, talk to the centre (the APC government they now praise) to end the ongoing strike in public universities, stop the threat of “No Work, No Pay,” and revive the dignity of scholarship. Only then can they claim the moral right to lecture anyone about political loyalty or defection.

Southern Kaduna does not need professors who issue political statements; it needs scholars who will use knowledge to create jobs, mentor youths, strengthen education, and defend the truth. The real intellectuals of our land are those who teach by example — who link the gown to the town, not those who trade titles for tickets.

Let it be known: Southern Kaduna cannot and will not be cowed by threats of political isolation. The people have long learned that integrity in opposition is worth more than comfort in complicity. Development does not come by joining those who oppressed you; it comes by holding them accountable.

If indeed President Tinubu’s government has done well for Southern Kaduna, let the results speak — not through choreographed endorsements, but through tangible transformation in the lives of ordinary people. Until then, every attempt to sell collective conscience for personal access will be resisted by the true sons and daughters of the land.

We stand firmly behind Senator Sunday Katung’s mandate — not as PDP or APC, but as a representative of a people who still believe that politics should be about service, not surrender.

Southern Kaduna’s loyalty remains with justice, not with any party; with truth, not with propaganda; and with progress, not with political prostitution.

History will remember those who stood firm when others knelt for convenience.