In the long and complex history of Nigerian politics, few challenges have proven as persistent and dangerous as the widening distrust between the country’s major regional, ethnic, and religious blocs.
Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, political actors have repeatedly exploited these divisions for electoral advantage, creating a climate where national unity is often sacrificed for elite survival.
Yet, as the 2027 general elections begin to shape Nigeria’s political future, a new political dawn is gradually emerging, a dawn that seeks to replace suspicion with cooperation and ethnic rivalry with national partnership.
At the center of that emerging conversation is a veteran politician and strategist Umar Bello Jada, popularly known as “Calculate,” who has unveiled the “ONE NIGERIA MOVEMENT,” a political reconciliation initiative designed to bridge the long-standing divide between Northern Muslims and Southern Christians, particularly the South-East.
For Jada, the project is not merely about winning elections but will serve as a vehicle that will redefine the political psychology of Nigeria itself.
Jada is one of the few politicians in Northern Nigeria who possess broad political exposure and cross-party experience. With more than four decades of political activism, he has remained actively involved in major democratic struggles, governance campaigns, coalition-building efforts, and grassroots mobilization.
A political mentee of the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Jada’s political journey cuts across several political era and ideological movements. From contesting as an SDP House of Representatives candidate during the aborted third republic to working closely with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for over two decades, his political network stretches across multiple regions and tendencies.
He also served under former Adamawa governor Murtala Nyako as Special Adviser and Commissioner, worked with Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as Senior Special Assistant, contested for Senate under the Labour Party in 2011, ran for governorship in Adamawa in 2019, and played strategic roles in coalition politics ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Jada was also known as one of the influential Northern supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the 2023 election cycle and was widely associated with the political calculations that led to support from sections of the G5 political structure.
However, the worsening economic hardship, rising insecurity, deepening regional mistrust, and increasing dissatisfaction across the country appear to have convinced him that Nigeria requires a broader national realignment beyond conventional party politics.
That conviction gave birth to the ONE NIGERIA MOVEMENT.
The Obi–Kwankwaso Formula
At the heart of the movement lies the proposed presidential alliance between Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
The proposed alliance according to analysts, represents more than political arithmetic. It is being projected as a symbolic national healing process capable of rebuilding trust between historically disconnected political constituencies. The formula is strategically simple but politically powerful; An Igbo Christian from the South-East paired with a Northern Muslim from the North-West.
In Jada’s view, such a partnership could fundamentally disrupt the entrenched “North versus South” political narrative that has dominated Nigerian elections for decades.
He argues that ordinary Nigerians, regardless of tribe or religion, face identical struggles: hunger, unemployment, inflation, insecurity, poor healthcare, weak educational systems, and collapsing infrastructure.
Jada noted that by focusing on these shared realities rather than identity politics, the movement hopes to create a broad populist coalition capable of transcending traditional ethnic boundaries.
According to him, one of its strategic goals is to dismantle the self styled and selfish elite-driven politics of Nigeria that has proven inimical to the overarching goals of good governance.
Jada noted that, political elites have historically weaponized ethnicity and religion to divide ordinary Nigerians while consolidating their own economic and political power adding that for decades, fear-based narratives have shaped elections: issues like Northern domination versus Southern domination, Christian interest versus Muslim interest and majority versus minority politics became the major inhibitions to Nigeria’s progress.
He insisted that such divisions have prevented the emergence of a genuine people-centered democratic movement that will empower the masses across all divides.
Jada believes the only way to break that cycle is through deliberate cross-regional political cooperation, especially between Northern political structures and the South-East. By encouraging Northern Muslim support for Peter Obi and reciprocal Southern support for Kwankwaso, he believes the movement will create what he describes as a “new democratic trust architecture.”
National Unity as Political Strategy
According to Jada, unlike previous coalition attempts built solely around power-sharing arrangements, the ONE NIGERIA MOVEMENT seeks to frame unity itself as a political objective. He noted that some of the core principles of the movement include: equal citizenship regardless of ethnicity or religion;
religious tolerance and coexistence, inclusion of historically marginalized regions, merit-based leadership, economic cooperation among regions and shared national prosperity emphasizing that no part of Nigeria can succeed in isolation.
The Youth Factor
Another major pillar of the movement is youth mobilization. According to Jada, Nigeria’s youth population remains one of the largest in the world, yet millions continue to face unemployment, poverty, and political exclusion.
He said the Obi–Kwankwaso proposal represents a generational political shift capable of energizing young voters across ethnic and religious lines adding that the movement aims to encourage: Civic participation, technology-driven governance, entrepreneurship, digital innovation, issue-based political engagement and cross-cultural political cooperation.
He said if well harnessed, the alliance could become a platform for transforming Nigerian politics from personality cults into policy-driven governance.
He also posited that economics also sits at the center of the movement’s strategy arguing that Nigeria’s economic crisis cannot be solved through regional competition but through national cooperation.
Jada said some of the direct benefits of the movement will be the industrialization of Northern agriculture, revitalization of eastern manufacturing and commerce, infrastructure linking all regions, massive investments in education and technology, security reforms to protect farming and trade and expanded opportunities for small businesses and youth entrepreneurs.
According to him, a united Nigeria possesses enormous economic potential if regional strengths are integrated rather than politicized.
He added that the North’s agricultural capacity, the South-East’s entrepreneurial culture, the South-South’s energy resources, and the South-West’s commercial networks could collectively drive national growth if coordinated under a stable political arrangement.
Security and Inclusion
According to Jada, the current insecurity ravaging parts of Nigeria is rooted in politics of exclusion, illiteracy, poverty and distrust. He noted that banditry, insurgency, separatist agitations, kidnapping, and communal violence have all intensified national anxiety in recent years adding that an inclusive government that treats all regions fairly would enjoy greater public trust and cooperation in tackling insecurity.
He noted that such challenges will be addressed through intelligence-led policing, community-based security partnerships, youth empowerment programs, de-radicalization initiatives and modest federal representation adding that citizens are more likely to support national institutions when they feel represented within them.
The Historic Symbolism of Northern Support for Obi
Jada said the most politically sensitive aspect of the movement is its effort to encourage large-scale Northern Muslim support for Peter Obi noting that for decades, Nigerian politics has largely followed predictable regional and religious voting patterns noting that breaking that pattern would represent a historic democratic milestone.
He said such efforts will reduce fears of ethnic domination, undermine extremist narratives, strengthen national unity, demonstrate democratic maturity and rebuild trust between regions adding that strong Southern support for Kwankwaso would symbolize reciprocal political respect and partnership.
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