Former Kano State governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has urged Nigerians to revive the historic political alliance between the North and the South-East, insisting that the country’s stability depends on reconciliation and mutual trust.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Igbo, Kwankwaso said the North and the South-East had long been partners in shaping Nigeria’s political direction, particularly in the First and Second Republics, and should not allow present tensions to erase that legacy.

He framed his appeal in moral and historical terms, arguing that the wounds of the Civil War and subsequent political crises can only be healed through deliberate forgiveness and inclusion.

“We have to forgive ourselves. We have to work together as a family. South-East has been our ally, our friends, over the years,” he said, stressing that no region can successfully play politics in isolation.

Kwankwaso recalled how the Northern People’s Congress formed an alliance with the National Council of Nigerian Citizens, led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, in the First Republic, describing that partnership as evidence of the foresight of early Nigerian leaders.

He also cited the Second Republic, when President Shehu Shagari and the National Party of Nigeria worked closely with South-East politicians, culminating in the emergence of Alex Ekwueme, an Igbo politician from Anambra State, as vice president.

According to him, the decision of northern leaders in the late 1970s to embrace former Biafran territories after the Civil War was a conscious effort to prove that the Igbo were not enemies but partners in rebuilding the nation.

Kwankwaso described Ekwueme as “a friend of the North” and recalled attending his burial in Oko, Anambra State, as a personal testament to that relationship.

He further pointed to the role of northern-dominated parties in facilitating the return of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu from exile and supporting his reintegration into democratic politics, even allowing him to contest for a Senate seat.

“Despite the fact that he was the leader of Biafra at that particular time, our leaders decided to forgive themselves and forge ahead,” he noted, adding that such gestures should guide contemporary politics.

Kwankwaso insisted that renewed cooperation with the South-East does not amount to hostility toward the South-West or any other region, but is part of a broader vision of a united, inclusive Nigeria.