[OPINION] Who currently holds the title of "Local Champion" between Obi and Kwankwaso? --- Farooq A. Kperogi

Prior to the presidential election in February 2023, supporters of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had repeatedly asked the author to acknowledge his political power, and had criticized the author for

ranking Peter Obi above him. However, the author had insisted that either Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi would emerge president that year.

One day in 2022, the author had described Kwankwaso as a “local champion” in response to a comment on his Facebook page, which Kwankwaso's devotees had misconstrued as an insult. The author had clarified that in all varieties of English, except Nigerian and perhaps Ghanaian English, the word "local" does not have any negative connotation.

Kwankwaso had won Kano State in the presidential election but had not even come second in Jigawa. The author had always maintained that Kwankwaso was a local champion who had run for president only to help his son-in-law become the governor of Kano State.

In contrast, the author had predicted that Peter Obi would shake and shape the presidential election. Despite criticisms from Kwankwaso's supporters and other partisans, the author's prediction had turned out to be accurate. Although Obi's support base was not limited to Christians, it had transcended his ethnic base and had spread throughout Nigeria. The author had predicted that the church would be Obi's structure and that he would win pan-regional Christian votes.

However, despite winning the hearts of Christians across Nigeria, Obi had failed to win the presidential election due to constitutional limitations. The author had noted that it was constitutionally impossible for Obi to be president even if he won a plurality of the vote.

Anyway, the election outcome has revealed that Obi, despite being referred to as a "local champion" by Kwankwaso supporters, is actually worthier of the title than Kwankwaso himself. This is evident as Obi won more votes in the North than Kwankwaso did, with 2,080,847 votes compared to Kwankwaso's 1,454,649 votes, most of which were from Kano. In fact, Kwankwaso only received less than 100,000 votes outside of Kano.

Obi not only won 12 states (including Rivers State), but also bested Kwankwaso in 13 northern states including Kaduna, Taraba, Borno, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, and Benue.

It's important to note that this is not meant to ridicule Kwankwaso, as the author is on friendly terms with him. While the author does criticize his tendency towards personalization of power, they also have profound respect for his transformational infrastructural projects in Kano and his investment in the education of Kano's youth, even while outside of government. In fact, Kwankwaso was gracious enough to call the author from Washington, DC during his visit to the United States, despite previous misunderstandings.