By Mohammed Bello Doka
5 May , 2026
On January 23, 2026, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso stood before his loyalists in Kano and officially declared that date to be marked as the "International Day of Betrayal." He was referring to the defection of his political godson, Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who had deserted the Kwankwasiyya movement to join the All Progressives Congress. Kwankwaso wept. He raged. He played the victim.
But here is the poison in the irony: the man who cannot stomach a single betrayal by his own godson is orchestrating the greatest betrayal of the entire Northern region.
Today, we name another date for a new International Day of Betrayal—May 3, 2026: the day Kwankwaso signed the North's political death warrant by joining the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and endorsing a southern presidential ticket.
Let the record be clear. Let the numbers be counted. And let every Northerner read this and weep.
The Mathematics of Betrayal
Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, the presidency has been held as follows:
— Olusegun Obasanjo (South): 1999–2007 — 8 years.
— Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (North): 2007–2010 — 2 years.
— Goodluck Jonathan (South): 2010–2015 — 6 years.
— Muhammadu Buhari (North): 2015–2023 — 8 years.
— Bola Ahmed Tinubu (South): 2023–2027 — 4 years by the end of his current term.
Total: South — 18 years. North — 10 years.
The deficit is eight years. Not a grievance. Not a sentiment. A mathematical fact. Even Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Tinubu, has publicly posed the question: "The South has governed for 18 years and the North for 10, so who is in the deficit?" Even Atiku Abubakar, not the North's favorite son in every circle, has demanded an answer: "If you are talking about zoning… the South has governed for 18 years and the North 10. So who is in a deficit, if you want to be fair?"
The North is in a deficit of eight years. And Kwankwaso's response? He wants to hand the South another eight.
"North Should Wait Till 2031" — Kwankwaso's Shocking Declaration
In February 2025, while serving as Executive Director of Finance at the Hadejia Jama'are River Basin Authority under the Tinubu administration, Kwankwaso made a declaration that should have sent shockwaves through every northern home. Echoing APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje's position, he said: "North should wait till 2031 to reclaim power".
Let that sink in.
By 2031, Tinubu would have served two full terms (2023–2031). That would extend southern rule to 26 years—eight years of Obasanjo, six of Jonathan, eight of Tinubu, plus the two 'accidental' years of Jonathan after Yar'Adua's death. By 2031, the North would have been in power for a paltry 10 years over three decades of democracy.
Kwankwaso was not misquoted. He was not misunderstood. He told the Arewa Consultative Forum, Africa's premier northern socio-cultural organization, that it "lacks political values to talk about the North". He insulted them. He dismissed them. And then he called on northerners to vote massively for a southern president in 2027.
If this is not betrayal, then the word has no meaning.
The NDC Betrayal: Selling the North for a Vice Presidential Slot
Fast forward to May 3, 2026. Kwankwaso and Peter Obi formally joined the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a party controlled by southerners. Almost immediately, Buba Galadima, Kwankwaso's close political ally, announced that the NDC had zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to the South—and that the party would proceed with primaries for a southern candidate.
Kwankwaso, the most influential northern opposition figure with a massive grassroots following across Kano and the entire Northwest (the so-called Kwankwasiyya movement), walked into a southern-controlled party and passively accepted the zoning that excludes his own region.
Why would any northern politician voluntarily surrender his region's turn for the presidency? The answer is written in the fine print of backroom politics.
In September 2025, reports emerged that Jonathan's camp had opened talks with Kwankwaso, with Kwankwaso's team demanding the vice-presidential ticket as the price of any alliance. Galadima's recent comments suggest the same arrangement is being replicated within the NDC. Kwankwaso is selling the North's turn for a vice-presidential slot—a position with no constitutional power beyond the ceremonial.
He is trading his people's eight-year deficit for a four-year seat in the waiting room.
The History of Betrayal
Kwankwaso is not a novice to betrayal. He has made a career of it.
· He betrayed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in February 2019, after reaching a secret agreement with the APC, torpedoing Atiku's campaign in the northwest and helping hand victory to President Buhari.
· He betrayed Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, the founder of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), after using Aniebonam's platform to contest the 2023 elections. The NNPP faction now describes Kwankwaso as "the main betrayer" who "betrayed the trust of the NNPP founder".
· His own political godson, Governor Abba Yusuf, abandoned him because of "Kwankwaso's slavery intentions and undue interference" in governance.
· Even the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Sani Madaki, a former Kwankwaso ally, responded to Kwankwaso's "betrayal day" theatrics by reminding him: "You lack the moral standing to talk about betrayal".
Betrayal is not a vice for Kwankwaso. It is a lifestyle.
What the North Must Do
The Arewa Consultative Forum—indeed, the entire northern political establishment—must not remain silent while one man trades his people's future for personal ambition. The ACF has already stated it will not endorse any candidate for 2027, preferring instead to interview hopefuls on their plans for the region. But this is not enough.
The North must demand accountability. It must demand that any northern politician seeking the region's votes in 2027—whether from the APC, the PDP, the NNPP, the NDC, or any other platform—publicly commit to the restoration of the North's mandate.
The simple question that every candidate must answer is: From 1999 to 2027, the South will have ruled for 18 years, the North for 10. If you are elected, will you commit to the North completing its full eight-year entitlement before power returns to the South?
If the answer is no, then the North knows where to cast its anger.
The Verdict
Kwankwaso wants the North to wait until 2031. He wants the South to extend its rule to 26 years. He wants to sit in the vice-presidential seat, watching from the wings as northerners queue for jobs at AKK gas pipeline construction sites, as banditry consumes Katsina and Zamfara, as Almajiri children roam the streets of Kano, as our women die in childbed for lack of primary healthcare.
He calls this "development." He calls this "Tinubu's contributions to the region."
We call it what it is: treason against the North.
The North has waited since 2015 to see the dividends of its votes for Buhari. It has waited through eight years of promises. It is still waiting. And a man from Kano—our own son—is telling us to wait another eight years so he can be vice president.
Not on our watch.
The North demands its turn. Not in 2031. In 2027.
Kwankwaso can keep his "International Day of Betrayal." January 23 is his day of grievance. But May 3, 2026 is now the North's day of awakening.
And on that day, this betrayer of the North will face a reckoning he cannot escape.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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