Kwankwaso Explains Why He Joined Peter Obi for 2027 Presidential Bid

Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano State and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, has explained why he decided to work with Peter Obi for the 2027 presidential election.

He said he and other northern leaders assessed potential allies and concluded that Obi was the most capable partner to advance the campaign.

Kwankwaso dismissed concerns of a hidden power struggle between his group and Obi’s team.

He made the remarks in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, offering a detailed account of how the North-Southeast political alliance within the NDC was formed.

“I looked around together with our leadership in the north to say, okay, who do we think is capable? Who can come and work together with us honestly so that we can move this country? Along the line, we realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.

Kwankwaso, who ran as the NNPP presidential candidate in 2023, leads a grassroots movement with strong loyalty across Kano and parts of northern Nigeria.

He left the NNPP amid internal disputes before joining the NDC alongside Obi earlier this month.

Obi, former governor of Anambra State, ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and gained massive youth-driven support across the South and urban centres, though he did not win.

Both men formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, leaving the crisis-hit African Democratic Congress.

At the party’s national convention in Abuja, Kwankwaso supported the decision to zone the 2027 presidential ticket to the South, calling it a step toward fairness, healing, and national cohesion.

When asked about possible rivalry between the northern and southeastern camps, he said friction between principals and deputies often comes from greed, not structural tension.

“The problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. There is so much to do. You don’t have to fight your deputy,” he said.

Kwankwaso cited his record as former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and later governor of Kano State as proof that political partnerships can hold under pressure.

“I had an opportunity to work with my speaker and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor. We were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him,” he said.

He extended this principle to the federal level, noting that cooperation among senators, ministers, and executives has been possible when there is a shared focus on national service.

Kwankwaso traced the North-Southeast alliance back to the first republic, referencing former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and NCNC leaders, as well as the collaboration between President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme in the second republic.

He said the alliance corrects a historical shift in power-sharing that moved influence away from the Southeast in subsequent republics.

Kwankwaso stressed that the choice of Obi was based on competence, not regional sentiment.

“It wasn’t just because we are going to the South-West just because of the South-West. No. We realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it and that’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.

The joint move of Obi and Kwankwaso has sparked a wave of defections, with senators, House members, and political blocs aligned with their former coalition gravitating toward the NDC.

The alliance combines Kwankwaso’s northern grassroots structure with Obi’s national youth engagement, positioning the NDC as a major opposition platform for the 2027 elections.

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