Nigerian power is like a winding corridor where alliances shift like desert sands. Within this space, President Bola Tinubu seems to be making what might be his boldest political gamble yet: wooing the North, beginning with the formidable Rabiu Kwankwaso and the restive streets of Kano. With 2027 already casting its long shadow, the president seems determined to redraw his political map.

The move is strategic. Kwankwaso, former Kano governor and NNPP presidential candidate, commands a cult-like following in the North-west. A reported rapprochement with Tinubu, allegedly sweetened with promises and positions, has sparked intrigue and infighting within the APC. Meanwhile, northern APC hopefuls eyeing 2027 governorships have begun to fret and whispers swirl about Kwankwaso being offered a return ticket – or worse, dominance in a region others have laboured to cultivate.

Still, this attempted alliance is more than a transaction; it’s a signal. Critics think that Tinubu knows that no one could win the Nigerian presidency without Northern blessing. As Hakeem Baba-Ahmed aptly noted, Northern support isn’t optional, it’s essential. But therein lies the paradox: while Tinubu courts the North’s political elite, the region’s masses simmer with discontent. They see a government tilting southward, economic zones in Lagos, ministerial portfolios favouring the South-west, and roads that vanish once they leave the capital.

So, can a handshake with Kwankwaso plug a dam of northern resentment?

Possibly not. Northern elders like Tanko Yakassai are cautioning against any illusion of regional sufficiency. The presidency, he reminds us, remains a national affair. And in a region where political memory runs deep, the ghost of former President Shehu Shagari and the fall of the First Republic still hover. Power, hoarded or misused, has a way of imploding.

In the end, Tinubu’s northern outreach might prove visionary or foolhardy. For now, it’s a tango of ambition, suspicion, and calculated charm. But as any student of Nigerian politics knows: the North is watching, the South is calculating, and 2027 is not waiting.