By Ezinwanne Onwuka
Nigeria’s villages are bleeding. Homes are burning. Graves are filling. And while fear stalks villages from the north to the Middle Belt, the country’s leaders board planes to play peacemaker beyond Nigeria’s borders. That anger—sharp, loud, and unfiltered—is the fuel behind Nigeria Is Burning, a song by Haruna Goroh, founder of Greater Love Ministries, dropped on December 11, 2025.
The Sound of Pain
In Nigeria is Burning, Goroh delivers a blunt message many Nigerians already feel in their bones: the country is on fire, and silence is no longer an option. He paints a nightmare: children vanishing at dawn, families forced off their land by violence, dreams buried beneath the dust.
“Kaduna weeps, Plateau mourns, Benue buries beneath the soils, Zamfara is trembling, Sokoto cries,” he sings in lyrics that hit like gunfire. The words land hard because they reflect the news Nigerians wake up to every day: kidnappings, terror attacks, entire communities emptied overnight.
Goroh’s voice carries frustration, urgency, and a deep sense of betrayal shared by millions of Nigerians who feel abandoned by the leaders.
Unlike heavily produced pop records, Nigeria Is Burning leans on raw sound and clear words. The delivery is raw and direct. There is no sugarcoating, no metaphors to decode, and no symbolism to unpack.
Efforts by TruthNigeria to reach Goroh for this story were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to repeated messages. Still, his song speaks loudly enough on its own.
Communities in Peril
The song lands at a moment when global attention is once again fixed on Nigeria’s Middle Belt where Fulani militants target Christian communities and Northeast where ISWAP and Boko Haram remain a major threat.
After a recent visit to Benue State where he met survivors of Fulani militia attacks, U.S. Congressman Riley Moore of West Virginia described what he saw as heartbreaking.
“While in Benue, I met with dozens of Christians who were driven from their homes and subjected to horrific violence and now live in IDP camps,” Moore said. “They told harrowing stories that will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
Those fears are not confined to the past. With Christmas approaching, fresh warnings have emerged of possible attacks. Judd Saul, founder of the nonprofit group Equipping the Persecuted, has reported intelligence pointing to planned assaults on Christian communities in Riyom and Bokkos in Plateau State, Kafanchan in Kaduna State, and Agatu in Benue State.
Against this backdrop of ongoing violence and looming threat, Nigeria is Burning sounds less like a song and more like a record of national trauma.
One of the song’s sharpest critiques targets the government’s focus. As communities are overrun and villages burn, Goroh accuses Nigerian leaders of looking away.
In his words, “Misplaced priorities. Nigeria bleeds while they look overseas… Misplaced priorities, a government blind to its own tragedies. You cannot heal another land’s scars while ignoring the wounds beneath your star.”
Goroh expanded on the message in a post on X, spelling out the frustration driving the song: “Nigeria is drowning in violence. Communities are raided at dawn, farmlands laid to waste families uprooted and displaced
and innocent citizens are buried daily as terrorism continues to ravage the nation. Yet, in the midst of widespread insecurity at home, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu hurriedly approved the deployment of fighter jets and troops to the Republic of Benin—a move that raises more questions than answers. This is not only unwise, it is a gross misplacement of national priorities.”
Truth in Tunes
Before Nigeria is Burning, Nigerian musicians had already been putting public anger into song.
Earlier this year, veteran rapper Eedris Abdulkareem released Tell Your Papa, a song addressed to President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi. The track was swiftly banned by Nigeria’s broadcasting regulator. Its crime: telling Seyi to relay the pain of the average Nigerian to his father (papa).
“Seyi, how far? I swear your papa no try…On behalf of Nigerians, take our message to him,” sings Abdulkareem. “Kidnappers dey kill Nigerians. Seyi, try travel by road without your security. Make you feel the pains of fellow Nigerians. You dey fly private jet; Insecurity no be your problem. Nigerians wey dey travel by road, some of them dey face death sentence.”
It was not Abdulkareem’s first clash with authority. In 2000, his song Jaga Jaga—a critique of Nigeria’s condition—was also banned under former president Muhammadu Buhari.
For American audiences used to feel-good Afrobeats, songs like Nigeria is Burning may come as a surprise. But protest music has always lived alongside Nigeria’s dance hits. Like Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up or Public Enemy’s Fight the Power or Say it Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud by James Brown, Nigerian artists continue to speak truth to power through music—even when it costs them.
Goroh reminds us: “The nation demands accountability. Nigeria needs peace within our walls before running to answer another man’s call…Nigeria must come first, now and always.”
Ezinwanne writes special features for TruthNigeria.
