Veteran journalist and former Guardian Newspapers Managing Director Martins Oloja has accused political leaders in northern Nigeria of quietly enabling discrimination against Christian communities while publicly denying systemic bias. Speaking on Channels Television’s Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, Oloja described what he called “state-backed marginalisation” that rarely makes it into mainstream media coverage.
Oloja cited a long-running crisis in Bauchi State’s Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, which he said has a Christian majority but was stripped of its constitutionally listed headquarters under former Governor Isa Yuguda. According to him, the headquarters was “unilaterally relocated” to Bununu—a move he described as unconstitutional and politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Bununu is an Emirate headquarters located within the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.
He recounted how the only Christian member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly at the time—a woman—was suspended for criticizing the relocation. “She was suspended for three years, from barely a year after inauguration till the end of the session,” he said.
Oloja revealed that although the relocation had been upheld by a State High Court, the Court of Appeal in Jos overturned the ruling on September 30, 2025, affirming that no state government or legislature has the authority to alter local government headquarters listed in the Constitution. “You won’t read this in the media,” he added.
The veteran editor also described what he said were routine barriers faced by Christian youths seeking education in northern states. He told the story of a girl from Gwoza, Borno State, who scored 277 in the UTME but was denied a certificate of origin at the Borno State Liaison Office in Abuja—while Muslim applicants obtained theirs “before her very eyes.” A female police officer present, he claimed, confirmed she had to rely on a Muslim intermediary to secure her own certificate.
According to Oloja, such patterns are widespread but rarely acknowledged. “Most children of Christians from many northern states cannot get admission into Medicine, Law, Engineering or Computer Science—even when their parents are professors,” he said. In one case, he alleged, a student admitted to study Medicine was arbitrarily transferred to Christian Religious Knowledge.
“These things are not in the media,” Oloja stressed. “Our leaders making noise in Abuja won’t talk about the things they do back home.”
