Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano
As Nigeria approaches 2027, a false narrative is being pushed by some elements that political alliances across regions are “anti-North”.
Specifically, they argue that the emerging partnership between Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Mr. Peter Obi betrays Northern interest.
Cross-regional alliances are not new to Nigeria’s political trajectory. Our forefathers understood that Kano or any other region cannot thrive in isolation, and the talakawas cannot eat regional flags and survive.
Nigerians have already seen this movie. For eight years, late President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the North, chose a Pastor, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, from the South-West as his running mate and Vice President.
Today, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the South-West has Sen. Kashim Shettima from the far North as his running mate and Vice President.
The message is that no region can win alone. No region can govern alone. Nigeria only works when North and South stand and work together.
While some people are trying to bury historical facts for political gain, they forget that history holds the answers to many of today’s problems. As Chinua Achebe said, “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, a Northern Nigerian historian, warned that, “History is not a playground for the ignorant. It is the memory of a people. To distort it is to kill the people twice.”
As Prof. Toyin Falola also said: “Those who control the present try to control the past. But facts, like seeds buried in the ground, will sprout.”
Even in the last election, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was the PDP presidential candidate in 2023, wanted to pick Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate. Today, the same Atiku is expected to pick another Southerner as his running mate.
So, who is betraying the north? Is it Kwankwaso for aligning with Obi? Atiku or Shettima for being the Vice President to Tinubu?
That is democracy in action. Not regional sentiment. Not “ownership” of a country with over 250 million people.
The North is not the only region in Nigeria, and it can never be. We need other components to thrive. Our region suffers the anguish of Boko Haram attacks, banditry, kidnapping, religious violence, and more. Democracy means building consensus alliances across Nigeria. Not building walls. Not fanning sentiments and emotions that ignite hatred among Nigerians.
Today, the facts of Mallam Aminu Kano’s 1953 and 1979 alliances have sprouted in 2027, with alliances across regions and political parties
The record is clear: Mallam Aminu Kano built his legacy on bridges, not walls. In 1953, Mallam Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union NEPU formed a working alliance with Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group AG in the Western Region. The goal was not personal power. The goal was free education, mass literacy, and justice for the common man.
Also, in 1979, Mallam’s Peoples Redemption Party PRP worked closely with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigerian People’s Party NPP in the East. Again, the reason was the same: power must serve the poor, not elites.
Aminu Kano said it plainly then: “Our struggle is not North versus South. Our struggle is the talakawa versus the ruling class.”
For Aminu Kano and Kwankwaso, region was only geography. Caring for the ordinary Nigerian on the street, hungry, homeless, unsafe, and bare, was their major concern.
The Kwankwaso-Obi conversation is not “anti-North”. It is in the tradition of Aminu Kano: a Northern leader building national partnerships and consensus for the nation’s security, jobs, and development. Kano and Nigerian markets need buyers from Lagos. Our farms need roads to Port Harcourt. Youth need investment from across Nigeria.
To call that “betrayal” is to call Aminu Kano a betrayer, which I believe no true son of the north will accept.
