‘Kwankwaso is an Igbo man’ and other conspiracy theories of Nigeria’s 2023 elections

In the early 1920s, a certain Felix Okonkwo from Nnewi, Anambra State, found himself in the colonial city of Kano in search of greener pastures. A few years later, he would become a successful spare parts dealer, and so to say a renowned one. His spare parts company, with branches in a particular Kano area, would be named Okonkwo and Sons.

Mr Okonkwo would soon become a rare millionaire and a wealthy personality to reckon with. His influence and affluence earned him respect so much that the area he had settled in, Kano, was named after his investments — Okonwkwo and Sons. But the native Hausa speakers in this area would mispronounce the name as days turned into years, calling it “Kwankwaso” instead of “Okonkwo and Sons.”

What’s more?

The millionaire businessman had a son named Reuben. But the native Hausa indigenes of Kano would also misspell his name, calling him “Rabiu”. Many years later, Reuben, erroneously called Rabiu, would become a two-term governor…