TDYesterday, many Nigerians slept and woke up to the news that Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso have moved to NDC.
And like I will always say, Peter Obi is my party. Anywhere he goes, I follow.
So let me talk about why the OK team, Obi and Kwankwaso, is one of the political developments that genuinely excites me.
Not because of noise.
But because when you look at the records of both men as governors, you begin to understand why Nigerians are privileged to have these men collaborating and wishing to put a stop to the mess Nigeria has become under the watch of APC.
This is not just about names, this is about measurable governance.
And it is beautiful to see.
A strong southern political force joining hands with a strong northern political force.
A partnership that can speak to both the North and the South.
A partnership that can calm the old politics of division and remind Nigerians that competence can still unite people.
For a country that has been deeply divided and damaged by politics of tribe, suspicion, and propaganda, that kind of union is not small.
It matters.
Let me start with Peter Obi.
Peter Obi governed Anambra State from 2006 to 2014.
Till today, Peter Obi remains the only governor in Nigeria who publicly invited the EFCC and ICPC to audit his administration in a town hall meeting after leaving office.
Think about that carefully.
In Nigeria, where many public officials avoid scrutiny, hide records, and spend years explaining away questions about public funds, Peter Obi stood before the people who voted for him and said, come and check the books.
Audit the accounts.
Verify what was spent.
That was not done in secret.
That was done publicly.
That matters.
Because that is what transparency looks like.
That is what accountability looks like.
That is respect for the people who gave you their mandate.
And when he completed his tenure in March 2014, he publicly reported that he left about ₦75 billion in cash, savings, and investments for Anambra State.
That included local savings, cash balances, and foreign currency investments.
He did not leave debt as legacy.
He left assets.
He also refused pension, gratuity, severance benefits, official vehicles, and government-funded houses after leaving office.
That alone tells you how he sees leadership.
Before becoming governor, Peter Obi had already built a serious career in business and finance.
He was chairman of Next International Nigeria Ltd.
He was chairman of Guardian Express Mortgage Bank.
He served as director at Fidelity Bank.
He sat on the boards of Chams Plc, Guardian Express Bank, and other companies in finance, trade, logistics, and corporate management.
He built businesses before politics.
He understood investment, cash flow, cost discipline, and financial management before entering public office.
And that matters.
Because it helps explain why he governed with prudence and why he left savings instead of debt.
During his years in office, Anambra became one of the best-performing states in WAEC and NECO.
That was not accidental.
He invested in school infrastructure, institutional support, teacher development, and direct funding.
He returned mission schools, which many education experts say improved discipline, academic culture, and school administration.
He treated education as investment, not campaign language.
Now let us talk about Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
And this is where many people outside Kano do not fully understand the depth of what he built.
Kwankwaso first governed Kano State from 1999 to 2003, and then from 2011 to 2015.
Till today, one of the reasons the Kwankwasiyya movement remains powerful is because people can still point to visible things they saw with their eyes.
Roads.
Schools.
Hospitals.
Public institutions.
Urban renewal.
That kind of political loyalty usually comes from memory.
Not money.
One of the biggest areas where Kwankwaso left his mark was education.
And he went deeper than just building classrooms.
He established the North West University, now Yusuf Maitama Sule University.
He expanded the secondary school system massively.
His administration established over 200 new secondary schools, including girls’ schools, technical colleges, and science-focused institutions.
That matters because education access in northern Nigeria has long faced serious structural challenges.
He also invested heavily in teacher recruitment and school expansion.
School enrolment reportedly moved from around 1 million in 2011 to over 3 million by 2015.
That is not small.
That means more children entered classrooms.
More children entered the education system.
More families had access to formal learning.
But perhaps one of the most important things Kwankwaso did was the foreign scholarship programme.
He sponsored thousands of Kano indigenes to study medicine, engineering, pharmacy, agriculture, and other technical disciplines in countries like India, Egypt, Sudan, Malaysia, and parts of Europe.
Think about the long-term meaning of that.
That was not just spending money.
That was building future doctors, engineers, scientists, and technical professionals.
That was human capital investment.
That was future state-building.
He also introduced free school uniforms and free meals for many primary school pupils.
To some people that may sound ordinary.
But in reality, for poor families, that can be the difference between a child staying in school or dropping out.
And Kwankwaso’s work did not stop with education.
He invested heavily in health.
His administration upgraded hospitals, expanded healthcare infrastructure, and built specialist institutions.
He also built major roads and flyovers in Kano.
He pushed large urban renewal projects that changed physical infrastructure across parts of the state.
Markets, roads, drainage systems, and public works all received attention.
He also invested in water supply projects and housing schemes.
That is important because governance is not just speeches.
Governance is physical systems that people use every day.
And if you speak to many people in Kano today, one thing you will hear often is this.
They may not agree with every political position.
But they saw visible work.
That is why Kwankwaso still commands grassroots loyalty years after leaving office.
That is why many people do not have to be paid to support him.
They remember what they saw.
And this is why students, lecturers, and anyone who genuinely cares about education should pay attention to this OK movement.
Because both Obi and Kwankwaso have records that show they understand that education is not charity.
Education is economic policy.
Education is development policy.
Education is nation-building.
And that is why this Obi-Kwankwaso conversation excites me.
Both men governed large, politically important states.
Both built grassroots loyalty that still exists years after leaving office.
Both have people who genuinely love them without being paid to do so.
And that matters.
Because when people love leaders years after they have left office, it usually means they experienced something real.
People remember when schools worked.
People remember when institutions felt alive.
People remember when leadership felt intentional.
That kind of loyalty cannot be bought with rice, transport money, or campaign noise.
It is earned.
And that is why this North-South union is beautiful to watch.
For too long, Nigerian politics has been built around suspicion.
North versus South.
Christian versus Muslim.
Tribe versus tribe.
But what many Nigerians want today is actually very simple.
Competence.
Accountability.
Education.
Security.
Economic direction.
A country that works.
That is why the OK team is worth paying attention to.
Because at a time when APC has dragged Nigeria deeper into hardship, confusion, and economic pain, seeing two men with visible governing records from the North and South coming together gives many Nigerians something they have not felt in a while.
Hope.
And that is not a small thing.
N/B: If you’re a card carrying member with ADC or any party, and you’ve moved to NPC with Obi and Kwankwaso, and registered with NDC, please put in a resignation letter with ADC, it should be written, and made public, because the House of Reps is planning to pass a law to criminalize people who are registered in 2 parties. According to Deki Chohwe, the proposed jail term is 2 years and a fine of 10M.
Be wise and stay 100 steps ahead.
